Ripon Placepot: Tuesday June 4

Sir Michael Stoute: Trainer of final leg banker Mutajally.

Timeform's Matt Gardner heads to Ripon for this afternoon's tilt at the Placepot...

14:00 - Searchlight will probably rate as a banker for many having shaped like a sure-fire future winner on debut at this venue last month, and we are going to include him though we are not going to rely solely upon him as he encounters vastly different ground conditions today. The one to add as a spot of insurance his Captain Midnight, who shaped with plenty of promise on debut before seemingly finding the ground too testing on his latest outing at Musselburgh. 

14:30 - Bobs Her Uncle is still fairly lightly-raced and has contested a couple of stronger handicaps than this already this term, so she makes plenty of appeal as a starting point. Again, we're not quite confident enough to stick her in as a banker so we shall also take Cabal, who has largely been campaigned on the all-weather in recent years but is feasibly handicapped on her return to turf and seems unlikely to be far away. 

15:00 - Special Meaning makes plenty of appeal on paper, being a half-sister to 1000 Guineas winner Speciosa, and she bolted up on handicap debut at Leicester last month. She looks well treated under a penalty for that win but encounters a much quicker surface here and can realistically be taken on with Cavalieri and Order Of Service. The first mentioned will be suited by this step up in trip now contesting handicaps whilst the latter was progressing steadily prior to unseating the rider at Haydock last time; he boasts some solid form and can bounce back from that blip. 

15:30 - Frontier Fighter makes most appeal for the win but his turf form has come on ground softer than today's so, for Placepot purposes, we are going to side with a pair of more exposed, yet fairly reliable, handicappers, namely Lord Aeryn and Dubai Dynamo. The former returned to winning ways at Thirsk in August and has done very little wrong since, finishing fifth in the Thirsk Hunt Cup when last seen, whilst Dubai Dynamo has slipped to a workable mark and has largely acquitted himself well so far this term. 

16:00 - Gallena hasn't really progressed as anticipated so far and, though she is of interest on just her second crack at handicaps, we're not going to include her in our perm. The first one to make the cut is Bondesire, who will be suited by this return to sprinting having raced too freely over seven furlongs at Haydock last time, and we're also going to stick in Ayasha, who looked to be coming to the boil prior to a below-par effort at Beverley last time but is well worth another chance. 

16:30 - We need a banker somewhere and this looks as good a place as any, with it likely to develop into a match between Mutajally and Rock Choir. The latter will by this extra furlong but Mutajally, a half-brother to 2000 Guineas hero Makfi, has shaped well in two starts to date and almost certainly has more to offer. 

Selections:
14:00 - 4, 7
14:30 - 1, 7
15:00 - 3, 4
15:30 - 6, 7
16:00 - 1, 7
16:30 - 6
= 32 lines

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