JESSICA HARRINGTON will be hoping for a successful half hour on both sides of the Irish Sea this afternoon as Sibenek will be fancied to score at Navan while 30 minutes earlier Zarinava goes in pursuit of Grade Two glory at Doncaster, writes Brian O’Connor.

Zarinava will be ridden by the Grand National-winning jockey Robbie Power in the Skybet Mares Hurdle where she tackles the likely favourite Chomba Womba.

The latter is currently favourite for the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham, in which she was third last year, but Zarinava’s presence will provide an interesting form link to the top Irish novice Hurricane Fly.

Zarinava finished third to the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favourite at Leopardstown over Christmas which yielded her a valuable Grade One placing.

Ground conditions at Doncaster are forecast to be good to soft but they will be testing at Navan where the steeplechase races were cancelled earlier in the week.

The opening maiden hurdle has been divided to make a six-race card and Sibenek should be hard to beat in the second part, based on a bumper victory at Punchestown and a subsequent fourth to On The Way Out over flights.

Kempes will be a bet for many in the two-mile conditions hurdle but the Willie Mullins-trained horse will have to improve his jumping considerably compared to a maiden win at Leopardstown.

There was more than one sloppy jump on that occasion and if there is a repeat maybe Oscar Looby can take advantage now that he drops back from running over two and three quarter miles at Limerick over Christmas.

Skorcher had a big reputation before his debut and ran well to eventually finish third to Wave Power. Normal improvement on that would make Willie Mullins’s horse very hard to beat in the bumper.