Monday’s Racing Tips – Mehmar can follow up at Naas under Colin Keane

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Never So Brave had no excuses along the rail as the gap opened and she failed to take advantage of it. Mereside Diva plugged on down the outside without looking like troubling those in front.

Funny Story didn't get the best of runs through as she was placed on the rail and had to switch out wide when the straight came. She returned a small loss as a 10p rule 4 on the advised 13/2 EW didn't quite return the money on that selection. Mill Stream just showed the level of the British sprinters by not stepping up to the French horses who dominated the race, finishing 1-2-3.

August P/L stands at -9.415pts.

Cairnzy's Tips

Mehmar 3/1 – Naas 2.50

Mehmar has top weight to carry in this contest, which is never ideal at the best of times, but there's surely more to come from Michael O'Callaghan's four-year-old, who brings a solid profile to the table on handicap debut.

At four years old, Mehmar is a lightly raced horse, having competed in just five career starts. Four of those five starts were as a two-year-old, and despite not winning as a juvenile, Mehmar showed clear signs of ability in each of his outings, finishing runner-up in two races and placing third in the other, before ending his two-year-old campaign with a run in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. It was actually his run on debut that stood out to me as a solid piece of form, finishing three-quarters of a length behind Aidan O'Brien's The Antarctic. This form looks particularly strong, as The Antarctic went on to achieve multiple Group 3 victories.

Mehmar has already proven he has the ability to make his presence felt at this level when finishing third in a Group 3 at the Curragh in only his second start as a juvenile. Mehmar was absent from racing for over two years and gelded within that time before making his reappearance last month in a maiden at Navan which saw him win comfortably in the end under jockey Colin Keane. A mark of 87 looks workable in my opinion and there's every reason to believe Mehmar can continue progressing given he's only had a handful of runs so far. 3/1 looks a fair enough price, and jockey Colin Keane retains the ride which is an added bonus.

Secret World 7/2 – Ripon 4.30

Charlie Johnson had a nice winner on the final day of the Glorious Goodwood festival with his well regarded three year old Align The Stars winning the Coral Summer Handicap by a neck ahead of our fancy on the day Fairbanks.

I like the look of his runner Secret World, who takes on what looks like a field of exposed sorts in a less competitive affair than she ran over last time out. I'll not beat around the bush though, she's been a tad disappointing since going down the handicap route this season, with a third place finish behind William Haggas's Lou Lou's Gift being the form pick of her five runs this season, with Lou Lou's Gift recently finishing second in a Class 2 handicap last month. She was 5lb higher when finishing third behind Lou Lou's gift, so you can argue she's possibly on a dangerous mark.

She tackles 1m2f for the first time in this contest, which of course comes with it's risks as we don't know whether she will stay the trip. The way she has shaped on several outings this year suggests to me that she wants further, and I think it's definitely worth exploring to she how she fairs. Secret World also receives an 8lb allowance in this contest, which makes her an even more dangerous prospect against her more exposed opposition.

Rizzel's Tips

Toomuchforme 11/2 – Ripon 2.30

Based on the level of form we've seen from this 2-year-old field, nothing seems to be screaming off the page as a world-beater, so I'm more than happy to take a chance on Karl Burke's filly, Toomuchforme.

It's been a tremendous season for Karl Burke with his juvenile horses and whenever he has a runner, especially in the north, they will be strongly fancied. It has been profitable to back his juvenile runners blind, profiting a +£34.61 to £1 level stakes. Though that is a game of chance and is clearly working this season, I think that Toomuchforme was worth the play based on her pedigree and how strongly she was fancied in the market on debut which evidently didn't go to plan.

She was sent off as the 5/2F at Haydock, broke smartly and was racing prominently but soon went out like a light and Clifford Lee did the right thing and looked after her, giving her a soft ride for the rest of the race when he knew his mount had no chance. Since then, she has had a wind surgery, which should hopefully help her in today's race. Given how strong she was on debut in the market, you'd like to think that connections think she is a decent horse, and in a yard which has some of the better 2-year-olds in the country, they would have a very good gauge of how good she is. Obviously she didn't prove that on the track, but it was soft, and heavy in places at Haydock, and going from her pedigree and her knee action, that didn't look like a recipe which was going to mix and it wasn't a surprise that she ran so badly on that ground.

She is by Too Darn Hot who was mustard on a faster surface and her low and quick action would suggest she will be much better off on today's quicker ground. At the time of writing, she is an EW price, but when this goes live I'd imagine she will be much shorter.

Kings Merchant 2/1 – Ripon 4.00

There are a lot of course winners in this race, but they are all getting on in age and despite most of them being on decent marks, I think Kings Merchant will be too young and fresh for the older legs.

You can't fully look past the older horses in this race as we all know that they can return to a good level of form, especially when they get their conditions or track. I just believe that Kings Merchant will probably be a bit too strong for them in the closing stages as he is clearly on the up and hasn't stopped progressing yet, where the others are simply on the downward slope. Edward Bethell's 3-year-old gelding of Bated Breath has won three times already this season, and the runs in defeat haven't been bad runs either. He seems more comfortable as a 6f horse, so the defeats over a furlong shorter doesn't really concern me all too much.

Today's race is deemed as a step up in class as this is his first time back in a Class 3 race, but the first time in this class when running over 6f. I don't deem it to be a step up in class too much due to the other horses being on a decline, but also he has been running against some progressive horses in lower-graded races who have since won on their next starts. Last time out he beat a horse into second place who had previously won his last race, and the horse back in third had won his last two races. You can look through the other races like the Thirsk run which has produced winners from the runner-up and third, so you'd like to think that Kings Merchant has more under the bonnet and can win a race of this nature for a very inform trainer and rider who are both hovering around the 35% SR in the last fortnight.

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