Fast ground is the order of the day on the July course Newmarket
today and Nugget (2.15) can race from the same mark as when runner up at
Windsor 11 days ago and he would be carrying 5lbs more if today's contest took
place 24 hours later.
Ryan Moore was in the plate at Windsor and keeps the ride on
Richard Hannon's three-year-old who covered plenty of ground at the Thames-side
track before getting mugged late on by an inspired Oisin Murphy on Stamford. Moore
has been a beaten favourite on the selection in his last couple of starts, but
I expect him to make it third time lucky this afternoon. Jane Chapple-Hyam's
Ambassadorial looks the main threat with the outstanding Tom Marquand taking
over in the saddle. The selection is 9/4 with William Hill.
Marquand takes over on Ice Sprite (4.20) who a bit keen but
was given too much to do when a good fourth at Yarmouth last time. She makes
her handicap debut this afternoon from a mark of 70 and is certainly bred to
leave that mark well behind in time. William Haggas has his string in great
shape and the 3/1 readily available is a fair price.
At Newton Abbot the winning pointer The Greater Good showed
plenty of promise on his Rules debut for Paul Nicholls when fourth in a
Southwell Bumper earlier in the month and the form has already been franked by
the winner. If that run has taken the freshness out of him then he must go
close, but Templepark (4.35) was just touched off here over fences earlier in
the month and can make a successful return to hurdles. Fergal O'Brien's 8-y-old
is a duel winner over fences but did finish runner up in two of his three
starts over timber and he will enjoy the forecast fast ground.
Neil King's Gateway To Europe (6.35) steps back up in trip
having made a satisfactory reappearance over an inadequate trip at Southwell at
the beginning of the month. The excellent Bryony Frost keeps the ride and the
handicapper has seen fit to drop the selection by 1lb. The 6-y-old must have
good or faster ground to be seen at his most effective but, at the time of
writing, there is no rain forecast for the area.
Gold Mountain finished in front of Fenlons Court (8.05) and
Bubble O'Clock over this evening's C&D earlier in the month but I feel the
pair can reverse the form despite having only a 2lbs pull in the weights.
Bubble O'Clock, who used to be trained by Paul Nicholls, tanked his way through
that race but his fencing lacked fluency and he showed a marked tendency to
jump out to his right.
I thought Fenlons Court was just getting into the race when
making a significant error four out and I am not convinced jockey Daniel Sansom
will include the ride on his showreel. He was well supported on that occasion,
however, and if his jumping holds up then I feel he must go close.
A market move for the well bred Southfield Megan would be
significant in the finale and she receives a stone from Beholden (8.35) but I
thought the latter looked smart when scoring over C&D at the last meeting
here and I hope to see the Channon 4-y-old follow up.
There is plenty of pace in the excellent 12f handicap at
Ripon this evening and I hope Al Muffrih (7.25) does not get embroiled in a
battle for the lead with The Trader and Groveman. Ben Curtis takes over in the
saddle on the selection who finished third in a good York handicap just last
Saturday for William Haggas when he may have set too strong a gallop. I have
always thought there was a big race in the 5-y-old who landed the Zetland Gold
Cup at Redcar last year and has only had the eight career starts.
