Two meetings on the level on Monday at Pontefract and Windsor, whilst Plumpton stages a National Hunt card. The highlight of the day is Pontefract's listed Silver Tankard Stakes, for two year-olds over a mile, in which Mark Johnston's recent winner Cravat, Godolphin's Al Saham and the Ralph Beckett-trained Electrelane would look to be among the more interesting entrants.

Three meetings again on Tuesday, this time courtesy of Yarmouth, Lingfield and Exeter. The action on the Flat is fairly low-key, and Exeter is the most interesting of the meetings, a sign that the jumps season is really getting going. Trainer Charlie Longsdon currently holds two entries at the meeting, which is notable as he is presently going at a rather healthy 30%+ strike rate.

Wednesday is by far the busiest day of the week so far, with five tracks racing in total. Kempton, Newmarket and Navan go on the flat, whilst Fontwell and Worcester take off over fences. Newmarket's one mile conditions race currently looks to be a good affair, with horses such as Secrecy and Emirates Dream entered, as well as three year-olds Fury and Samurai Sword. Fury was once mooted as a genuine Guineas contender but has been fairly disappointing this season, and the unexposed Samurai Sword has had just the three starts, resulting in two successes.

Of interest at Fontwell in the beginners' chase is the Paul Nicholls-trained Escort'Men, who only had the one start last season when shaping as if amiss in the Christmas Hurdle. The previous season, he had looked most promising, none more so than when winning a Grade 2 novices hurdle at Kempton, and he has always looked the type to make up into a chaser.

Another busy day on Thursday, with Flat action at Brighton in the afternoon and under lights in the evening at Wolverhampton. Catching the eye on Carlisle's jumps card is the James Ewart-trained Aikman, who returned with a win over hurdles at the beginning of October. He attempts to make the transition to fences here and looks one to follow this season. There is more national hunt racing at Ludlow and over in Ireland at Thurles.

A few of the bigger tracks crank into gear on Friday, with Newbury and Doncaster both staging flat cards, as does Wolverhampton in the evening. There are a number of maidens and nurseries at the aforementioned tracks, for which you can expect large fields with powerful stables represented.

The best race on Fakenham's jumps card would appear to be a class 3 novices chase. This is the time of year when the bigger stables like to give their star hurdlers from last year their first sight of a fence on a racecourse, so it will be interesting to see just who turns up here.

Over in Ireland on Friday night, Dundalk hosts an all-weather card which features a listed sprint over five furlongs, with prize money of £40,000.

The highlight of Saturday is Doncaster's Racing Post Trophy, a Group 1 where two-year-olds are put to the test over a mile. Won last year by Casamento, the latest renewal features the promising Aidan O'Brien pair Daddy Long Legs and David Livingstone, as well as John Gosden's Fencing and the Richard Hannon-trained Rougemont.

Newbury hold a strong card, featuring two Group 3 races, the Horris Hill and the St Simon Stakes, and a listed contest for fillies over seven furlongs. There's also action over jumps at Aintree, Chepstow and Stratford, the former hosting the Old Roan Chase, with Monet's Garden added to the title in celebration of the horse winning the race three times in his career. Chepstow stage Grade 2 and 3 races over hurdles whilst Stratford features a number of handicaps.

There is also jumps action at Galway, featuring a number of valuable contests, before an evening card at Wolverhampton once again rounds off the day's action.

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