Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on Saturday.
Three points of interest
More to come from Binhareer as a sprinter
Binhareer is bred to be speedy as he's by Dark Angel, the precocious Middle Park winner whose progeny include Battaash and Harry Angel, and out of a two-year-old five-furlong winner whose best foal so far is useful sprint handicapper Trefor.
With that in mind, it's perhaps surprising that Binhareer raced exclusively at seven furlongs as a juvenile and was kept to that trip for his handicap debut at Kempton on his reappearance in May. Following that handicap debut, where he faded into seventh after cutting out a strong pace, Timeform's reporter noted "he's raced solely at this trip so far but is from a sprinting family and could well be more at home dropped back to 6f on the back of this first run for seven months".
Binhareer was duly dropped to six furlongs on his next start and showed much-improved form to run out an impressive winner at Ayr, scoring by three and a quarter lengths, despite his rider dropping his whip over a furlong out. The style of that success earned Binhareer Timeform's Horse In Focus Flag, marking him out as one likely to be of firm interest next time, while the report noted "he's been kept to softer than good on turf so far, so quicker ground is an unknown at present, but he will go on improving and looks one to follow".
Given his completely unexposed profile as a sprinter, Binhareer still has the Timeform 'small p' to show he's a likely improver and he looks the one to beat in the Grey Horse Handicap (14:05) at Newmarket, where the faster ground rather than his 8 lb higher mark is likely to pose the bigger question.
Gold Queen Kindly a potential big improver
All four runners in the Ripon Hornblower novice (14:10) have already won and are open to varying degrees of improvement, but the one perhaps most likely to take the biggest jump forward is Gold Queen Kindly.
Gold Queen Kindly has the sparingly awarded Timeform 'large P' to show he might be capable of much better form following a recent debut victory at Pontefract where he hinted at more ability than a half-length win at odds of 1/2 might imply.
Gold Queen Kindly did well to make up ground in a race run at a modest tempo, especially as he showed clear signs of inexperience in the straight by hanging when launched with his challenge down the outside. It took a bit of time for the penny to drop, but he proved strong in the closing stages and was nicely on top at the line, leaving the impression that he's likely to be much sharper for the experience.
His pedigree certainly offers hope he can do much better as, remarkably, his dam, grandam and great grandam all won the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York. His half-sister Queen Me very nearly became the fourth generation in her family to land the Lowther but was beaten a neck by Swingalong in 2022.
Fortamour bidding to enhance Ripon course record
Ripon is an undulating course that can unbalance some horses, but Fortamour is evidently effective at the track given he's won six times, all in handicaps over six furlongs.
He has gone close to adding to his tally there this season as he was placed on his first three starts and shaped better than the result would suggest in fourth last time when he was beaten little more than two lengths despite having to recover from an awkward start and then being sent for home a bit too far out.
He's been eased 1 lb so is now 1 lb below his last winning mark and looks to hold sound claims of adding to his impressive course tally in the six-furlong handicap (14:45). Only Pipers Note (8), Mark's Choice (8) and Garden Oasis (7) have more wins at Ripon than Fortamour since 2010.
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