Five race meetings make up Wednesday’s schedule across the UK and Ireland with the scales tipped in favour of National Hunt action as the Flat season winds down.

Punchestown (1.50-5.20pm), Ludlow (2.10-5.35) and Sedgefield (2.20-5.45) provide jumping fare, with racing on the level at Nottingham (2.02-5.30) and the all-weather card at Kempton (4.17-8.30).

Our midweek nap is a famous Cheltenham Gold Cup winner making his comeback for Henry De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore at Punchestown. 

Horse racing tips today – Punchestown, Nottingham and Ludlow

Enda McElhinney’s picks for Wednesday are below. Scroll down to read the expert analysis behind them.

Odds correct at time of publishing and may be subject to change.

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Horse racing tips: Punchestown 4.10

Wednesday’s card is a sure sign the National Hunt season is gathering momentum, opening with a maiden hurdle that features last season’s unbeaten Champion Bumper winner A Dream To Share.

This 2m 7½f chase also features some famous Cheltenham names, with the 2021 Gold Cup winner MINELLA INDO taking on five rivals that include Gordon Elliott’s Conflated, this year’s Gold Cup third, and Delta Work, twice the winner of the Cross Country Chase at the Festival.

Minella Indo didn’t recapture those glories in the 2021-22 season – including when second behind Conflated in the Irish Gold Cup – but he made a winning comeback last season at Tramore on New Year’s Day, getting the better of Stattler in a cracking effort. Things didn’t go his way in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March on his only other outing last season. 

This is a much less taxing affair than that Cotswolds mission and, with his ability to go well fresh and the fact he gets 6lb from the dual Grade 1 winner Conflated, Rachael Blackmore’s mount looks the one to be on at the forecast prices. 

Selection: Minella Indo @ SP with Paddy Power

Horse racing tips: Nottingham 3.47

This 1m 2f nursery handicap features a field of five promising runners, perhaps none more so than LET’S DREAM for trainer Michael Bell. 

The two-year-old by Territories colt has improved with each of three starts and there was plenty to like in the way he won his maiden a fortnight ago at Goodwood (1m2f, soft).

Hayley Turner always had him handily placed and he moved between horses freely to challenge with a couple of furlongs to run. After claiming the lead he kicked on powerfully, fending off the big pair in the market with a bit in hand.

Improving there for the step up in trip and showing he handles soft ground effectively, this opening mark of 82 should be within his grasp in a race of this nature with Turner in the plate once more.

Selection: Let’s Dream @ SP with Paddy Power

Horse racing tips: Ludlow 5.05

BACK ON THE LASH ended last season with a pair of non-completions in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham and the Grand National at Aintree but Martin Keighley’s nine-year-old faces a less daunting assignment on this seasonal return.

Before those outings he had won over 3m 6f at Cheltenham’s cross-country course in January, although perhaps the key form line regarding his chance here came at the previous November Meeting in the Cotswolds over regulation fences when he ran a fine race to finish third in a Premier Handicap won by subsequent Grade 2 third Does He Know for Kim Bailey.

Clearly blessed with lots of stamina, Back On The Lash is a three-time winner at this sort of trip over fences and is back on a very workable mark. He has the excellent Sean Bowen for company and can outclass these five Ludlow rivals despite carrying the top weight. 

Selection: Back On The Lash @ SP with Paddy Power

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