Today selections
KINGS MERCHANT – 2.45 Ripon (NAP)
KINGS MERCHANT was beaten a neck in a six runner race over C&D on his only previous visit and has live claims of going one better in this consolation race. He moved stables after struggling at the start of this season and didn’t show a great deal on his first start for his new team but there was a lot to like about his latest run at York, staying on into midfield and never nearer than at the line. Kings Merchant looks to be on the way back to form and can capitalise on his lowest mark since starting his handicap career.
JUMBY – 3.00 Newbury
Competitive fare but the handicapper has been fair to JUMBY and the seven-year-old may be able to gain a deserved success for the first time in over two years. That win came in a Group 3 when rated 109, a rating he reached again last season but he started this term off 105 and is now off 94, unchanged from his latest run. He may not quite have the zip of old but he’s still running well and looks capable of getting his head in front once more.
COEUR JAUNE – 3.40 Doncaster
There’s always a chance that a busy spell will catch up with the hat-trick seeking COEUR JAUNE but she appears to be thriving, supplementing a C&D success with victory at Leicester. She carries a 6 lb penalty but that doesn’t seem likely to stop her in her current vein of form with the step up to this trip having seemingly proved the key.
WONDERBOLT – 4.55 Newmarket
An easy winner on her handicap debut, WONDERBOLT can make light of a 7 lb rise with this furlong longer trip expected to suit. She didn’t trouble the judge in three all-weather runs but returned from a four month break with a dominant course performance, proving strong at the finish and this well bred filly can rank a good deal higher yet.
GREEN BONNET – 5.35 Perth
Connections have wasted no time in sending GREEN BONNET handicapping and the switch to this sphere hands her the first opportunity to prove she has an engine. The form of her Rules debut second at Kelso is only modest but so is her opening mark after she failed to build on that run on softer ground at Carlisle and this test looks more suitable for a half-sister to a number of winners.
MOE’S LEGACY – 7.16 Bath
The winning run came to an end at Newbury but a return to this venue may see MOE’S LEGACY pick up the thread. Two of her previous three wins were achieved over C&D and although she’s nearly 20 lb higher than for the first of them, such is the rate of her progression, she can prove up to the task.
BELVEDERE BLAST – 7.28 Market Rasen
A wind operation worked wonders for Ernest Gray but he has to prove he can build on that so a chance is taken with BELVEDERE BLAST. He never travelled in blinkers at Stratford last time but they are swopped out for a visor as Belvedere Blast returns to a track where he was won three of his 13 starts and placed on another four occasions. He’s in better form than the figures suggest and can give the more obvious contenders something to think about.
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