Epsom 22nd April

[bowles10]

5.25 EPSOM - PRIDE OF KINGS (1m 114y CLASS 5 - GOOD) Dettori is the best jockey by far at the track boasting a 23% win strike rate & 50% place strike rate. Any horse he has with the required pace seems to get the most out of the track & this one represents his best chance for me on the day. Likely to be up with the pace, the horse might just have enough early pace to get to the front & will have to try to stay there. It appeared to show those qualities when winning on fast ground at Catterick. It then finished 3rd on its last run back at that track but 8lb higher than its win. Starts the season on the same mark 74 as its last run & with Johnston also hitting a bit of form, we could get a run at a nice price. Drawn in 17 which is a tad wide but its pace will get it into the race early & freewheel down tattenham corner.

[fintron]

Epsom 22/4/09 3.05 Epsom A fiercely competitive handicap here with twenty runners set to go to post but I'm struggling to identify where the pace is coming from as most of these are likely to be held up. Perhaps Robby Bobby and Aureate could be the front runners that get the race run to suit and of those, Aureate appeals more. This handicap has typically been won by a horse that has a recent run and has previous experience of an undulating track, so Brian Ellison's runner makes considerable appeal bearing in mind his course and distance third last summer. He was beaten by only 0.62 lengths in a class 2 handicap by Bureaucrat and although 6 lbs higher for this, did win at Southwell as recently as January off 4 lb lower. His only start since was when well beaten over hurdles at Plumpton, as he broke a blood vessel, but the five year old could go well with the eyecatching jockey booking of Ryan Moore. 10/1 Bet 365, 2 pts.