Sunday’s Racing Tips – Cheekpieces could be the difference for Cool Legend at Ripon

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I was left with just one selection on Saturday as Orbaan was announced a non-runner. My sole selection Anmaat won on the day, just doing enough in the final furlong to see of the challenge from Certain Lad.

Liberalised ran a much mature race at Newmarket but was outclassed by those ahead of her. She didn't seem to stay the trip, and I think a return to shorter will be much better for her. Al Mubhir didn't back up the Sandown win at Haydock with a spectacular run and wasn't good enough to finish behind Anmaat which is what Rizzel was hoping for.

Cairnzy's Tips

Cool Legend 2/1 – Ripon 3.40

If there is a horse in this field that deserves to get the head in front, then it's surely my selection Cool Legend, who looks like a winner in waiting on the back of his last couple of efforts.

Out of a smart family in Sea The Stars, Cool Legend hasn't done much wrong in his last two outings and can probably count himself a tad unlucky not to have won at Goodwood two starts back. I actually backed the horse when he ran at Goodwood and couldn't beleive my eyes when he managed to get beat. He traveled smoothly into contention on the bridle under jockey Adam Farragher, but once he hit the front he didn't do a whole lot. It's not the first time he's been a bit lazy when hitting the front, and i'm not surprised to read that connections are applying cheekpieces for this contest, which could be the difference in easing that little bit more from him in the business end.

My selection finished in fourth place at Newbury in his most recent outing, with the finishing position not telling the whole story. Cool Legend appeared to be full of running but came into some traffic problems under Tom Marquand when checked for a run two furlongs out which looked to have cost him some momentum. He ran on well to finish fourth and only a length and a quarter of the winner Great Bedwyn who has since boosted the form when finishing three-quarters of a length down in third to Charlie Johnson's Align The Stars in the Coral Summer Handicap at Glorious Goodwood.

Martyn Meade's St Pancras heads the market at 11/8 and looks the obvious danger on the back of his impressive victory at Pontefract last month. He's an obvious improver and a 4lb rise looks managable for his youngsters. It could be a straight shoot-out between the two, but feel Cool Legend brings the better form to the table and the cheekpieces could prove the difference if they have the desired effect.

Nightwalker 11/4 – Leicester 2.30

Not the sort of race I normally get involved in, as backing unraced two-year-old olds will always come with its risks but there wasn't much else that caught my eye on Sunday and I thought this beautifully bred son of Frankel was of interest for Sir Michael Stoute. Only 6 go to post, but the field looks strong on paper, with some big trainers such as Charlie Appleby, Ralph Beckett, and George Boughey all appearing with interesting runners, and they all have to be respected given how well they tend to do with their youngsters.

Nightwalker has already been nibbled from 5s into 11/4 which is no surprise given Sir Michael Stoute is 3 from 7 with his two-year-olds this season and recently had a winner on Thursday at Yarmouth in the shape of Anna Swan who looked very impressive on the day.

Rizzel's Tips

Charyn 15/8 – Deauville 3.04

Silvestre De Sousa is a fantastic jockey and is one of my favourites, but he properly landed on his feet since coming back to the UK and getting the ride on Charyn. He has ridden Roger Varian's horse on every start this season and goes to show to jockeys that if you get a chance, take it with both hands as SDS has managed to win a Listed, Group 2 and Group 1 with this lad, and I think more is yet to come.

The Prix Jacques le Marois is normally a great contest as you get a mix of all ages (apart from juveniles), and we get to see which generation is the best. Inspiral has made this race her own in recent years, winning it twice on the bounce, but she is nowhere near the same level of form this season and despite having Ryan Moore on top, she looks to be out of sorts and has a lot to prove. The latter comments can be applied to Big Rock who was a great 3-year-old and was second to Inspiral last year in this race. His two runs this year have both come in the UK and have both been shocking. He was sixth on seasonal reappearance and then was virtually pulled up at Royal Ascot when behind Charyn. A lot of people said it was nonsense that this horse needed bottomless ground to be seen to best effect, but those last two runs cement it for me that he is not as good on a quicker surface, which looks likely to be the going again today.

I've been waiting for the markets to open for this race all week but the bookies have been lazy and they only came out yesterday! I wanted to try and get some added value on Charyn as I've been fancying this horse for the Prix Jacque le Marois for some time, but I didn't manage to get it, so let's not have a moan. This horse has been progressing at a solid rate this year under SDS. He has always been a good horse, but this year he has taken his form to a new level and is starting to reach the heights that many from the Varian yard thought he could achieve. He is versatile when it comes to ground and put the doubts of him wanting a soft surface to bed when winning in good style at Royal Ascot by 2.25L, recording a clear career-best RPR of 124. I think the jury was still out on whether he was that good as he was second to the runaway winner, Audience, in the Lockinge, but as we saw at Goodwood, Audience is a very talented horse. I'm not saying his form is outstandingly strong, but it just seems that he is progressing more this season and might've physically and mentally matured over the winter. There's no doubt that if the two horses I've mentioned do return to form this will be a real test for Charyn, but based on what we've seen this season, that's a big if.

Some of the others that I've not mentioned that deserve one are Haatem and Quddwah. I'm sure Cairnzy is cursing me for picking this race as he is a big fan of Quddwah. I'm not 100% sold on him. He is 4/4 and looks like a really good horse, but today's race is a totally different animal as he comes against Group 1 winners. I'm not so sure his last run was that impressive, as he did only win by 0.5L and the horses in behind aren't exactly top-tier horses, and would probably get lapped in this race. Haatem brings the UK 3-year-old form to the table and is interesting as we don't really know how strong the 3-year-olds are. He was second in the Irish 2000 Guineas and then won at Royal Ascot.

Pop Noodle 16/1 EW – Ripon 5.10

On breeding, you'd expect Sea La Venus to run away with this Class 6 contest, but based on what she has shown on the track, she has a lot to prove and I'd be backing against her everyday of the week.

Jez Bomb will likely be the most prominent in the market against the William Haggas horse, but I thought Pop Noodle could run a huge race. Last time out at Chepstow Mark Loughnane's 3-year-old gelding of Adaay got no run for the best part of two furlongs, or even slightly more. He came off the bridle under Finley Marsh, but that was to encourage the horse to pick up the bit, and it was an instant reaction and the horse came back onto the bridle nearly instantly and was travelling better than most in the race. Finley couldn't do anything in that race as he was on the rail and had a wall of horses around him and has nowhere to go. In hindsight, the horse did fantastically well to finish just 4.5L behind the winner who got an easy way of things, and had the clearest run of all, which allowed him to pull 3.25L clear of the runner-up, so considering Pop Noodle was 1L behind the runner-up back in fifth place, I think with a clear run he might've won.

The form of that race has been boosted by the winner who has since followed that up with another win, doing it in impressive style off a 6lb higher mark in a better quality race. The third has been placed as well, and the others that have run since have run to a decent level.

That was Pop Noodle's first run since January earlier this year, so it was an encouraging return to action, and if he can improve on that, based on the fitness, he should be a very big player in this race. A repeat performance, but with a clearer run this time and I think he is the one to beat.

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