5 poor meetings today

back to normal today with 5 poor meetings and plenty of races with small fields. Only 4 line up for Ripon´s 2yo race at 16.40 CET; Northern Water (Karl Burke/ Joey Haynes) was a non-runner in tne listed race here yesterday and should score in this lower grade after running a good race at Beverley on Sunday. The handicap over just short of 10 furlongs at 17.15 is the most competitive race of the day, with several strongly fancied runners. The lightly-raced 3yo Spirit of Rio (David Barron/ Graham Gibbons), an easy maiden winner over this CD 3 weeks ago, is one of them but he has been given quite a demanding rating. Triple Eight (Philip Kirby/ Matt O´Connell) is another one who likes this track and is well handicapped, but our main preference is for top-weight St.Moritz (David O´Meara/ Danny Tudhope), who has been running in some tough races and is down in grade here.
Ryan Moore has rides in all 6 races at Epsom and we expect him to have some winners. In our opinion his best chances are Picture Dealer, trained by his father Gary, at 15.50, Panther Patrol (Eve Johnson Houghton) at 16.55 and the well-bred Fantasy in Blue (Sir Michael Stoute) at 17.30.
This evening´s cards - on the all-weather at Southwell, over jumps at Sedgefield and a mixed Irish meeting at Ballinrobe are all uninspiring. At Southwell, Slip of the Tongue (Luke Morris) looks a typical Sir Mark Prescott improver and can complete a quick fourtimer at 19.45. At Sedgefield, Sky Khan (Philip Kirby/ Adam Nicol), who has been in good form both on the flat and over jumps, looks a near certainty to win the novice hurdle at 19.55, but will be at a very short price.
The 2 miles 1 furlong chase at Ballinrobe at 20.05 has attracted a good field, and Laganbank (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh) has an obvious chance, but at these weights we prefer Pires (Tony Martin/ Paul Townend), but Mullins and Walsh can take the final beginners chase at 21.05 with the very promising Darroun, making his chasing debut.

Betting forecast Ripon:
1. Race: Chloe`s Image - Rosselli - Multifact
2. Race: Simply Black - Rural Celebration - Fredricka
3. Race: We`ll Shake Hands - Yajamila - Khalice
4. Race: Northern Water - Muspelheim - Innocently
5. Race: Triple Eight - Spirit Of Rio - Dolphin Rock
6. Race: Sardanapalus - Aerodynamic - The Osteopath
7. Race: Bouggler - Naburn - Strikemaster
8. Race: Ravi River - Mister Carter - Grammar