Ripon - Sat 15th Aug

[fintron]

3.55 Ripon - William Hill Great St Wilfrid Heritage Handicap An outstanding handicap for the track and some of the best sprint handicappers around head up to North Yorkshire for this valuable heritage event. Markab heads the market at 5/1 and has been in great heart of late, building upon a highly respectable fourth in the Wokingham with a 4th in the Stewards Cup when last seen. Henry Candy's charge warrants the utmost respect and running off a 1 lb higher mark looks sure to play a role, but with plenty of pace on that side of the field I am passing over at 5/1. Tamagin and Striking Spirit and honest enough types and you know what to expect from them. They are likely to bowl out of stalls 1 and 2 and attempt to dictate matters, and that could set this up nicely for Jimmy Styles, who is likely to sit off the pace and attempt to win the race late in the day. The Inchinor gelding is becoming a bit of an enigmatic character and disappointed at Royal Ascot when 12/26 off a mark of 102. However, he fared much better at Windsor next time out (a race in which the winner had the run of the race) and I felt he had a chance in the Stewards Cup at Goodwood, latest. However, conditions were appalling that day, a late deluge of rain left the turf soft and visibility was poor due to the fog and I'm not quite sure what went wrong for him that day. The upshot of that effort (22/26) was that the handicapper has cut his rating 2 lbs and running off 100 tomorrow he is only 4 lbs higher than when successful at Newmarket in May. The cheekpieces that were fitted last time out have been ditched and with Phillip Robinson presumably engaged elsewhere, Dane O'Neill takes the reins. However, he is a more than able deputy and with the faster ground likely to be right up his street, this one could go well at a price. 20/1 SJ, 1.5 pts EW (4 places, 1/4 odds).

[RussP]

Re: Ripon - Sat 15th Aug Good luck Fin, may be backing that too:ok Pace chart for the race, by draw number, as follows: >>>>>>>> 1 >>>>>>>> 2 >>>>>> 3 > 4 >>>>>>> 5 >>>> 6 > 7 >>>> 8 >>>>> 9 >>>>>>>> 10 >> 11 > 12 >> 13 >>> 14 > 15 >> 16 >>>> 17 >>>> 18 > 19 >>>>>> 20