Nottingham, Kempton and Ripon

The only flat racing this afternoon is at Nottingham, although there is jumping at Cartmel and Fontwell, but there is also racing this evening at Ripon and on the all-weather at Kempton. The staying handicap for 3yo´s at 17.15 CET is a re-run of a similar race over this CD almost a month ago, which was won by Captain Cool (Richard Hannon/ Pat Dobbs) from Dream Spinner (John Dunlop/ Jimmy Fortune).

At the revised weights, the latter may be able to take his revenge. The most interesting race here could be the conditions event over a mile at 17.50. Frankie Dettori is at Nottingham to partner Rio de la Plata for Godolphin here; he was a top-class 2yo, winning the Grand Criterium at Longchamp on October 2007, but has not won since and has put up some very puzzling performances, if anywhere near his best however, he should take this. Another who has been disappointing in his recent starts is the ex-German Aspectus, winner of the Union-Rennen in 2006 and several other good races in Germany. He is now in training with Jamie Osborne and will be ridden by Fergus Sweeney.

Frankie moves on to Kempton´s evening meeting, where he can possibly take the first division of the 2yo fillies maiden at 20.20 on Godolphin´s well-bred Zabeel Park. However this quite a tricky race; the second division half an hour later looks more straightforward and should go to Richard Hannon´s Jumbo Bibi (Richard Hughes), beaten favourite on both his starts so far but capable of making it third time lucky this time. The 10 furlongs handicap here at 19.50 looks the best betting race of the day; our main fancies here are the lightly-raced Submariner (Mark Johnston( Dettori) and Sohcahtoa (Hannon/ Hughes).

The 6 furlongs handicap at 21.10 at Ripon is another very open race; our two against the field are Tajneed (David and Adrian Nicholls) and Esprit de Midas (Kevin Ryan/ Ryan Moore), both runners-up last time. Another regular runner-up is Rae Guest´s Gaselee, who runs in the 2 miles handicap at 22.10. Indeed he has been second five times in his last 6 starts, but possibly he can score today with the assistance of Ryan Moore in the saddle.