Flat Racing Saturday 4th July (Inc. Scoop 6)

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Eclipse is the feature but I'll only have a bet if the 5 runners are kept in so I'll wait a while until perhaps writing about Cougar Mountain each way. I'm not hanging about with my bet on the 'charge' though. 2.00 Sandown Coral Charge Lots of potential improvers here at bigger odds, the one I like the most is Son Of Africa under James Doyle who looks quite unexposed and despite having about 15 pounds to find on ratings can make his presence felt. However there's a horse in here that I wanted to back in an Ascot Group 1 but she was withdrawn and that was Mecca's Angel. 5 furlongs is her trip and the trainer thinks she wants non-firm ground (I think he's done well enough on fast ground), the going is described as good and despite the hot English weather there's a bit of rain forecast between now and then so I'm confident the ground can be retained. Mecca's Angel carries a Group 3 winner penalty but carried that same penalty when winning a Longchamp Group 3 easily last time against opposition as good as he faces here and could outclass his opponents. 2 months is a fair bit of time off for a sprinter but when fresh he's been good to go. Waady is a threat after his C&D success last time but I think Mecca's Angel is one of the best around and with a career strike rate of 7 for 12 and 3 for 7 in stakes I'm very happy to take the short odds about a consistent horse. Mecca's Angel win 7/2 Paddy Power NRNB BOG.

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3.45 Sandown Eclipse Golden Horn is the hot favourite here and it's easy to see why. Don't think 7/2 about The Grey Gatsby is brilliant, I'd be pretty surprised if he won however unlucky he was at Ascot. This would be a tough task for Tullius even at his peak, which he's been very far from this year. Western Hymn ran really well last time but to even have place claims big improvement is required. I really like Cougar Mountain here. They can't seem to find a trip long enough for him and he finished his Ascot race so well that if he raced Solow over tomorrow's trip he'd have a very lively chance, and I don't think Golden Horn is that much better than Solow. Each way is the way to go in this race. Cougar Mountain each way 12/1 Paddy Power.