17:10 Ripon

Thursday 20 June 2019

All14:1014:4515:2015:5516:3517:1017:4518:20

Stray FM Celebrating Ladies Day Handicap

Off time: 17:10 | Winning time: 1m 12.94s

(6)

Mutabaahy⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: Cam Hardie| T: A Brittain| OR: 69| D

5/1

An infrequent winner, albeit with plenty of placed form; back on the right track, run down late on his penultimate start at Haydock (6f, heavy) and beaten just over 1L at Thirsk (fourth) latest; every chance.

Form: 680724

(10)

Shortbackandsides¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-3| J: D Allan| T: T D Easterby| OR: 65| CD

5/2

C&D winner (good to soft) from a 2lb lower mark last August, and was beaten a neck by Case Key here the following month; stable in-form; bounced back to his best at Haydock latest when finishing a head second to Somewhere Secret; major player.

Form: 225-072

(7)

Point Of Woods¹⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 8-10| J: Sophie Ralston⁽⁷⁾| T: Miss T Jackson| OR: 58| CD

25/1

C&D winner (soft) from a 5lb higher mark in September 2017; posted a pleasing seasonal reappearance at Thirsk (5f) last month, but has been unable to build positively on that third-placed finish since.

Form: 007-399

(8)

Astrophysics²²

Age: 7| Weight: 8-9| J: C J McGovern⁽³⁾| T: Miss L C Siddall| OR: 57| D

20/1

December Wolverhampton winner (5f); probably needed the run here last month (seventh of 12), and fared slightly better (fourth of 11) on his next start at Hamilton (5f, soft) ten days later; 2lb lower.

Form: 21-7374

(9)

Danehill Desert^p¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 8-8| J: Sean Davis⁽³⁾| T: R A Fahey| OR: 56

16/1

Without a win since his juvenile days (5f, Hamilton); 2lb lower than when finishing 2¾L third to Ginger Jam at Thirsk (6f, good to soft) on his penultimate start; bogged down in the Haydock mud latest (finished behind Mutabaahy).

Form: 90-5036

(1)

Tadaany^p⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 8-5| J: J P Sullivan| T: Mrs R Carr| OR: 53| BF| D

11/2

Knocking firmly at the door this month already, twice finishing second at Nottingham (6f), including last week on heavy ground; one of three declared runners for Ruth Carr - retained rider James Sullivan takes the mount.

Form: 31-0422

(3)

Cupid's Arrow⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 8-2| J: Jamie Gormley⁽³⁾| T: Mrs R Carr| OR: 50| D

5/2

Strongest with cut underfoot, as demonstrated when demolishing a big field at Redcar (6f, soft) in November; headed inside the final furlong when beaten by Stallone at Nottingham (6f, heavy) last week; one of three declared runners for Ruth Carr.

Form: 60-4572

(5)

Meshardal^p³

Age: 9| Weight: 8-2| J: A Mullen| T: Mrs R Carr| OR: 48| D

7/1

Veteran Catterick specialist who has fallen in the weights and is likely to find a winning opportunity at his favoured track sooner or later; ran respectably at Carlisle on Monday (fifth); the weakest of the three Ruth Carr trained runners?

Form: 806865

Non-Runners

(2)

Tabaahy⁹

Weight: 9-9| Age: 4

T: D O'Meara J: D Tudhope

(4)

Ninjago¹⁷

Weight: 8-12| Age: 9

T: P T Midgley J: Non Runner

Forecasts

Cupid's Arrow (5/2), Shortbackandsides (5/2), Mutabaahy (5/1), Tadaany (11/2), Ninjago (6/1), Meshardal (7/1), Tabaahy (8/1), Danehill Desert (16/1), Astrophysics (20/1), Point Of Woods (25/1)

A competitive handicap in which the Stillington-based handler Ruth Carr saddles three runners with Tadaany, Cupid's Arrow and Meshardal assessed in order of preference. Mutabaahy has also been running well in defeat, so enters the reckoning, while Point Of Woods is perhaps the most interesting of the likely outsiders. However, the horse to stick with is the Ripon specialist SHORTBACKANDSIDES for the bang-in-form local trainer Tim Easterby. This 4yo sits just 2lb above his last winning mark (C&D), has his optimum racing conditions and comes into the race off the back of a narrow defeat at Haydock a fortnight ago.