Rizz will return tomorrow with Tuesday's card, as I ( Cairnzy ) messaged him offering to cover Monday's card to give him a day off.
Rizz only had the one selection on Sunday in the shape of Map Of Stars, who ran in the Group 1 contest at Munich. After watching a replay of the race, I'd say Rizz was highly unlucky not to come away with the win. Map of Stars had to play second fiddle to Tornado Alert, who had first run on Map Of Stars, who was anchored towards the rear and taken wide before making his challenge.
I think when James Doyle watches the race back, he'll be slightly disappointed with his choice of tactics, unless that is how he was instructed to ride his mount. I wouldn't give up on Map Of Stars, as I do believe he's a Group 1 winner in waiting.
We have some decent racing on offer on Monday afternoon, particularly in Ireland at the Galway festival.
Crown Of Oaks 7/4 – Ayr 4.05
My first selection on Monday is the William Haggas-trained Crown Of Oaks, who looks to hold solid claims on handicap debut. Notably, William Haggas isn't known for sending many runners to Ayr, but he has a good strike rate when doing so, producing two winners from three runs and the other filling the placings.
It's a slight worry that Crown Of Oaks has been a turned-over favourite the last two times, including being beaten 3L at a SP price of 1/3. With that said, William Haggas is no mug, and he has held this horse in some sort of regard, with him holding some decent entries in the past, and if there's a trainer who can get a horse back on track, then it's William Haggas. My selection has recently undergone a gelding operation, which you'd assume was necessary to hopefully unlock some improvement.
The horse who beat my selection last time out was Big Leader, who was previously with P Twomey but switched hands to Geoff Oldroyd in April of this year and hasn't looked back since. The 3L victory over my selection now reads well with Big Leader following up next time out to win again, and is now rated 91. I'll not blabber on about the form of the other two contests, but the horses who finished in front of my selection are all rated in the high 80s/low 90s.
Familiar Dreams 9/1 EW – Galway 6.40
I wasn't planning on having a bet at Galway on Monday, but after having a glance through the card, I thought Gordon Elliot's Familiar Dreams was worth a chance.
Anthony McCann originally trained my selection before switching hands to Gordon Elliot, and she did not do too badly for her original trainer, winning four bumpers during that time.
Since switching to Gordon Elliot, he has kept her to hurdling for the most part and has produced a win at Limerick in a Grade 3 novice contest and has since run creditably in a couple of Grade 1 contests at both Punchestown and Aintree.
My selection makes her handicap debut here of a mark of 93, which looks more than manageable in my opinion. Familiar Dreams is taking a fair drop in trip to 2m from the 3m she has been running over recently, but her proven stamina could be a huge asset in this contest, particularly at Galway.
GambleAware