5 more poor meetings

Another rather dismal Tuesday with nothing much to get excited about. This afternoon we have flat racing at Salisbury and jumping at Fontwell. The fillies handicap at the former track at 16.55 CET looks the best betting race of the day and Stockhill Diva (Brendan Powell/ Liam Keniry) has a chance, after running a good second in a large field at Newbury on her seasonal debut last time, her best form for ages. However the handicapper has put her up 6 lbs which seems a bit unfair, so we prefer the 3 3yo´s in the field. Both Sweet Selection (Hughie Morrison/ Nicky Mackay) and Vanishing (Ed Walker/ Antonio Fresu) have also gone up, for winning this year, so we shall take a Chance with Haalan (Clive Brittain/ Louis Steward), who has actually come down in the weights and could be well handicapped with a decent claimer on board.

At Southwell, Lolli (Nicky Henderson/ Nico de Boinville) should win the mares maiden hurdle at 19.20 but will be at a very short price; she has been placed in both her hurdles races so far and does not appear to have much to beat today.

The Irish track of Roscommon continues today with an all-hurdles card and some very large fields. Howvere there are only 6 runners in the main event, a novice hurdle over 2 miles at 19.10, which has some useful prospects entered. Riviera Sun (Henry de Bromhead/ Mark Walsh) is the likely favourite, but we like Space Ship (Robbie Hennessy/ Andrew Lynch), who has an exellent flat race pedigree and has won his last two races in good style.

Only handicaps today

Mainly low level racing at today´s 5 meetings, with handicaps dominating all 5 cards. The best of them is arguably the 6 furlongs race at Ayr at 18.30 CET, and quite a few of these runners will no doubt be aimed at the big handicaps over this trip here in September. My Name is Rio (Michael Dods/ Paul Mulrennan) indeed ran third last year in the Bronze Cup. he should run well again, but has gone uip in the weights and is looking a bit exposed, so we prefer the two above him in the handicap- Boy in the Bar (Richard Fahey/ Tony Hamilton) and Shared Equity (Jedd O´Keeffe/ Graham Lee), both very consistent over this trip and relatively lightly raced. The former was runner-up in a hot handicap at York last time but we just prefer the latter.

There is also a competitive 6 furlongs handicap at 20.40 at Pontefract this evening, but this one is for 3yo´s only. In this case we go for the bottom weights, Dawn´s Early Light (Tom Dascombe/ Richard Kingscote), Shootingsta (Bryan Smart/ Paul Hanagan) and Midlander (Mark Johnston/ Silvestre de Sousa). The first-named has been placed on all 3 career starts, including this CD, while the second won cosily last time after being placed 3 times, but we also like Midlander; Johnston has been trying him over various distances, but this trip could be ideal.

There is Irish racing at Roscommon this evening, with 4 flat races followed by 3 chases, including the Connacht National over 3 miles at 21.30, which is the most valuable race of the day. This looks really tricky with 15 runners, none of whom can be readily discarded, but we shall take a chance on oldtimer Prince Rudi (Sandra Nolan/ Ian McCarthy); the 13yo is much better over hurdles than over fences, but he ran third in this race last year and is nicely handicapped now.

Ayr - betting forecast:
1. Race: King`s Pavilion - Birkdale - Causey Arch
2. Race: Donna Graciosa - Moon Arc - Haymarket
3. Race: Finn Class - Evanescent - Grissom
4. Race: Royal Duchess - Tanawar - Diatomic
5. Race: Blue Jacket - Sewn Up - Our Man Phil
6. Race: Quest Of Colour - Strong Steps - Warfare
7. Race: Boy In The Bar - My Name Is Rio - Shared Equity
8. Race: El Massivo - Rainford Glory - Hatton Springs

Off to Baden-Baden

This column is away at Baden-Baden for the next 4 days and expects to be back on Monday.

Today´s /Thursday) racing in the U.K. and Ireland is only of minor interest, but tomorrow (Friday) we have the first day of the Epsom Derby Meeting, with The Oaks at 17.30 CET, while on Saturday The Derby itself will be run also at 17.30 with the Coronation Cup at 16.10. The Dante is usually the best trial for The Derby and the first 3 from that race lock horns again- Golden Horn, Jack Hobbs and Elm Park, while there has been heavy support for Giovanni Canaletto, the choice of Ryan Moore from Aidan O´Brien´s 3 entries. And not to forget our own Rogue Runner (Andreas Wöhler/ Oisin Murphy), who is a total outsider but who the trainer thinks could run into the money if the ground dries out out.