Five meetings to get our teeth into today, with Brighton, Carlisle and Chepstow carrying the afternoon before Down Royal and Wolverhampton take over into the evening. It is a card with plenty of strong-priced fancies up top, but the meetings that catch our eye are the northern and Welsh ones, where a couple of in-form types look ready to go again.
Carlisle is where we start. Alpine Sierra has been in lovely heart, winning at Hamilton over a mile and three earlier this month before following up at Musselburgh last week once switched to front-running tactics, doing it with plenty in hand. He carries a 4lb penalty now for Jim Goldie, but a thriving eight-year-old who has found a winning groove is hard to oppose. In the same yard’s neck of the woods, Tamam Star is one to forgive. He ran a promising fourth on debut at Musselburgh over today’s trip, going close with a clear passage, and the quick reappearance at Thirsk six days later almost certainly came too soon. Leave that behind, note K R Burke is in charge from stall two, and he looks well treated.
Down to Chepstow and Oasis Sunrise heads our staking there. Beaten only a short head at Bath a week ago, she has been placed twice since a comfortable win there over a mile on firm. The step up to a mile and a half is new ground, but she is only 1lb higher than her last winning mark and the form reads well. Dash Of Class is the each-way angle on the same card, stretching to a mile and two for the first time off a mark of 53, with Rossa Ryan keeping the ride after a placed effort in first-time headgear at Southwell.
The evening hands over to the all-weather at Wolverhampton, where Enamorus interests us on her handicap and seasonal debut off 75. She placed in all three juvenile starts, Hugo Palmer’s yard is firing, and the Oisin Murphy booking is one that tends to pay its way for this stable. Worth keeping onside.
Yesterday read nicely. Boyfriend obliged at 4.5 and Etonnante landed the odds at 1.83, with Joga Bonito and Zubaru both filling places to round off a tidy afternoon.
Plenty to follow today across the five tracks, and the lights at Wolverhampton give us a long evening to chase it down. We will be watching closely.