All you need to know for the big meetings at Punchestown and Sandown

A real crossroads of a day, with Punchestown's continuing festival topping the bill ahead of a day of top Flat action at Sandown (which itself leads into top jumping tomorrow) and the last day of Perth's three-day festival.

The feature of Punchestown's card is the Betdaq-sponsored Punchestown Champion Hurdle, in which star novice Samcro takes on Champion Hurdle second Melon among others. The supporting Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle, which Samcro might otherwise have run in, is nonetheless headed by a stablemate in the former classy Flat performer Pallasator.

At Sandown, Lincoln winner Addeybb tests his mettle in Group 2 company in the bet365 Mile, while at Perth the feature is the £25,000 Highland National.

Doncaster stages an eight-race Flat fixture in the afternoon and joining Punchestown in starting late are jumps meetings at Towcester and Chepstow.

Going report

Perth (first race at 1.30)
Soft (from soft, heavy in places)

Doncaster (1.40)
Good to soft, soft in places (from soft, good to soft in places) (GoingStick 6.7 on Friday at 6.30am). Rail movements: R1 & 7 +6y

Sandown (1.50)
Round course - Good, good to soft in places; Sprint course - Good (GoingStick 7.4 on Thursday at 2pm). Rail movements: R1, 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7 +27y

Punchestown (3.40)
Yielding to soft

Towcester (4.40)
Good to soft, soft in places (GoingStick 7.8 on Thursday at 7.30am)

Chepstow (4.50)
Soft, good to soft in places (from good to soft) (GoingStick - Chase 6.1, Hurdle 5.8 on Friday at 6am)

Market movers

3.15 Perth: Castletown 7-2 (from 9-2)

4.40 Towcester: Shanroe Saint 9-4 (from 11-4)

5.05 Sandown: Dubhe 11-4 (from 10-3)

5.15 Perth: Jarveys Plate 4-1 (from 9-2)

7.20 Towcester: Fight Commander 3-1 (from 9-2)

What to back

David Jennings is on hand at Punchestown once more, providing his fancy in a hurry.

What to read

If you're watching Sandown rather than Punchestown today, you will want to hear what went down in Middleham yesterday with the town's two big Classic hopes.

There is also the cautionary tale of the Post Office manager who was secretly in €1.75m debt. Tony O'Reilly puts himself forward as a warning.

What to watch

Check out our Postcast for day four of Punchestown.

The best of Racing Post Sport

The Betfred World Championship snooker continues at The Crucible on Friday. Adrian Humphries has previewed Ali Carter v Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Meanwhile, the WTA Stuttgart is heading towards the business end and Aaron Ashley has looked at the quarter-finals.

Final thought

There is just the slightest feeling of the too good to be true about the manner of Faugheen's win in the Stayers' Hurdle yesterday but, come on, who couldn't get carried up in the moment? We can decide in six months' time just how much of a force he will be among the stayers next season.

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news