Racing tips: Marhaba is set to be the Shampion of Hamilton on Monday

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I wasn't able to post Sunday's selections as I was still out after going to Chester's final race meeting of the year of Saturday. As always, thanks to Cairnzy for stepping in and posting a couple of his fancies.

As Mondays go, the racing isn't that bad, which is always a pleasant surprise. Hamilton has got a couple of decent Class 3 races, which is where I have gone for both of today's selections.

Hamilton 2:48

The eyes of most punters will be drawn to Spanish, trained by William Haggas and ridden by Tom Marquand. She won well last time out at Kempton and people will think that she is better than what she showed at Windsor the time before, which is fair enough. However, she was convincingly beat at Windsor and I can't see any excuses for it as she was only coming off a 53-day break, which isn't a huge time away off the track and she was positioned in a good enough spot to win, or do herself justice, so for that reason, I will be giving another chance to SHAMPION who was a selection at the York Ebor festival meeting.

Shampion was the winner of the race in which Spanish ran in at Windsor, where she was 5.25L behind (back in 5th), and Shampion won with plenty in hand and could've won by further if wanted. I've mentioned a few times that York is a strange track in a way that not all horses take to it due to the sandy surface which the turf lies on. Even though it's probably the most conventional track in the country, it does throw up a few surprise runs as for some reason horses don't take to it. I'm not totally blaming the track for the poor performance of last time out, but I'd like to think that could've played a part as she was shocking and when a horse who has looked promising up until that point to finish last and tailed off, finding nothing for pressure, something must've been up. She was quite keen in that race, which seems to be a flaw of hers, but I didn't think she pulled that hard for her to run as poor as she did, so she warrants another chance.

Like I eluded to, she was very good at Windsor, and the time before that she gave the odds-on favourite something to think about at Haydock. Shampion was held up off the pace and the winner and odds-on horse, Shaara, had a good lead before Shampion got rolling, but Roger Varian's filly stayed on strongly that day and kept the winner on her toes as if she started to dawdle it could've got much closer. The winner of that race has boosted the form by winning twice since including a Class 1 Listed race on her most recent start, producing an RPR of 105.

The drop in trip isn't as much of a concern as it might look as Hamilton is a stiff track so stamina will come into play on ground which isn't going to be quick, but also a faster pace over 8f will help her settle if she is a mood where she wants to take a strong pull. With the Varian stable being in tremendous form I think she could bounce back to form. It's not for everyone but at odds of 9/2 and looks to be on the drift, she could be a decent EW bet to nothing if she places.

Hamilton 3:23

For the second selection of the day, I do really like the chances of MARHABA THE CHAMP, who is still a big unknown having only run three times in his life. With a horse with kind of profile, it's always a bit of a risk going into a good handicap on handicap debut, but I think an opening mark of 84 could be on the lenient side based on what he has shown so far.

If you get a chance, watch his last race back as he got a nightmare run. When turning for home at Ripon he was massively inconvenienced by another horse who hung to the left which took Marhaba The Champ to the opposite rail of where you'd normally be, losing tonnes of lengths in the process. He had to run on the wrong side of the track for a good half a mile, where the ground wouldn't have been favourable, but also he would've had to do a lot of the donkey work as he had no horse to aim at or keep him company. To finish 2nd and lose by a length was a huge effort, and the horse which won seems like a nice horse going forward, being a previous selection of mine, Nigwa.

He will have hopefully come on plenty for that run, being on the back of a 73-day break and his first run after a wind-op, which you don't always see the benefits after just one run, so more improvement from that operation is possible on this second run.

This son of Galileo is well-bred, being out of a Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Mare who has produced some decent horses.

Similar to the first selection, this horse is priced at around 11/2 with Bet365, and I see that as a good EW bet in this race where he is inexperienced and it's a competitive race.

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