Hamilton, Kempton, Leicester and Ballinrobe

Most of the top jockeys are in action at Kempton´ s all-weather fixture this afternoon, where we hope that Frankie Dettori can land a double for Saeed bin Suroor. His mount Terdaad in the 2yo maiden over a mile at 16.30 CET started favourite on his debut at York, but lost his chance by a very slow start; if he gets off on terms here, he can recover those losses. Drankie can follow up with the consistent Barq in the 6 furlongs handicap for 3yo´s at 18.30, where hat-trick seeking Dubai Media (Ed Dunlop/ Kieren Fallon) and Rule of Nature (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) look the main dangers. Stoute and Moore can also land a double, with Giant´s Play in the fillies maiden over 1 1/2 miles at 17.00, and Hymn Sheet in the 3yo handicap over the same trip half an hour later.

The main event at Hamilton, a 6 furlongs conditions race at 15.40, has cut up badly and there are only 5 runners, 3 of whom ran in Saturday´s Ayr Gold Cup. Knot on Wood (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) did best of them in 6th and deserves to win a decent race, but Rileyskeepingfaith (Mick Channon/ Tom Eaves) was not far behind and is now 7 lbs better off, so there should be little in it. Godolphin´ s Global City (Ted Durcan) faces a tough task here.
The card at Leicester is mainly moderate, but the 5 furlongs handicap at 16.20 is quite a decent race. La Fortunata (Mike Murphy/ Andrea Atzeni) has been in great form and has finished first or second all recent starts. However top-weight Fathom Five (Chris Wall/ George Baker), behind him at Epsom last time, may be able to reverse the form, while distance specialist Noodles Blue Boy (Ollie Pears/ Franny Norton) and Walvis Bay (Tom Tate/ Micky Fenton) are two more dangers in a tricky race.

There are the usual maximum fields at the Irish N.H. meeting at Ballinrobe. Most interesting race here is the 2 3/34 mile chase at 18.35, in which Bob´s Pride (Dermot Weld/ Ruby Walsh), who fell when still challenging in a valuable Galway Festival race last time, must give weight to the useful Essex (Denis Cullen/ Robbie Colgan) and Alpha Ridge(Paul Nolan/ Paul Carberry). At these weights, the last-named could just have the edge.