Bank Holiday Monday

Today is a bank holiday in the U.K. , which means lots of racing - on the flat at Epsom, Ripon, Newcastle, Warwick and Chepstow, and over jumps at Huntingdon, Bangor, Cartmel and Downpatrick (N. Ireland), but mainly at a low level. The best race is the listed Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy over 6 furlongs at Ripon at 16.35 CET, and Supplicant (Richard Fahey/ Tony Hamilton) looks a clear favourite here after his good run at Royal Ascot.

He also over this CD a week ago, but had nothing to beat. Today´s field is obviously stronger and we like the look of Hoku (Olly Stevens/ Harry Bentley), who won in very good style last time and will be well suited by the soft ground. He also has an engagement at Baden-Baden this week, but it seems that he will be running at Ripon instead. The Ripon Rowels mile handicap at 17.10 is the big betting race of the day and looks wide open. Robert the Painter (David O´Meara/ David Bergin) has top-weight after winning 3 times (including this CD), but is no longer well-handicapped and possibly prefers faster groiund, and the same goes for hat-trick seeking The Rectifier (Seamus Durack/ Micky Fenton). Haafaguinea (Clive Cox/ Adam Kirby) and Desert Revolution (Mark Johnston/ Franny Norton), both lightly-raced 3yo´s, look very dangerous, but we prefer two old-timers with a good course record- Osteopathic Remedy (Michael Dods/ Connor Beasley), who has won this race twice before, and front -runner Suits Me (David Barron/ Graham Gibbons).

Epsom stages a decent bank holiday card with the Amateur Derby over the full Derby trip of 1 1/2 miles at 17.15 the main event. Two course specialists are the favourites here - but neither of them for this racecourse: Beacon Lady (Will Knight/ Paddy Mullins) has an amazing record at Brighton, where she has finished first or second on her last 7 starts - all this summer- while Azrag (Gerard Butler/ Simon Walker) has done all his winning at Wolverhampton, where he won a similar race last Friday with this good amateur aboard. Knight won a good race at Deauville yesterday and as Brighton is quite similar in some ways to Epsom, we give preference to his filly.