21:10 Ripon

Monday 8 July 2019

All18:4019:1019:4020:1020:4021:10

Fun For Lego Fans 5th August Maiden Stakes

Off time: 21:15 | Winning time: 1m 38.81s

(1)

Ningaloo¹⁰⁵¹

Age: 5| Weight: 10-0| J: Lewis Edmunds| T: Rebecca Bastiman

20/1

Switched stables after finishing fifth at Chelmsford (7f; standard) in August 2016. Too many risks attached as he makes his return from 1051 days off the track, conceding weight to all his rivals.

Form: 5/

(2)

Abwab

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: J P Sullivan| T: M & D Easterby

14/1

Teofilo gelding. Half-brother to an AW winner over 1m2f. Made just 6,000gns at the sales in October 2018 and hard to know what to expect as he makes this belated debut.

Form:

(6)

Ganton Eagle²

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: Cam Hardie| T: M & D Easterby| OR: 43

150/1

Doubtful runner after being beaten a long way into fourth at Beveley (5f; good to firm) on Saturday.

Form: 900-84

(7)

Ghanim¹⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: T Eaves| T: C Allen

10/1

Sent off at 50-1 and ran accordingly when sixth on debut at Newmarket (1m; good) last time. Would need to step up by some way on the basis of that effort to trouble the leading contenders in this.

Form: 6

(4)

Morning Duel^t1²¹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: D Tudhope| T: D O'Meara| BF

6/4

Unable to justify market favouritism when third at Catterick (7f; soft) last time. That was disappointing but soft ground possibly to blame and debut effort over C&D was full of promise, so probably too early to write him off.

Form: 33

(5)

Power Player²⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: P J McDonald| T: K R Burke| OR: 72

9/2

Has proved incapable of threatening in three starts in maidens. Interesting that his trainer is persevering with him in maidens now that has been given a handicap mark, but is very hard to fancy on what he has shown so far.

Form: 903

(3)

Stagehand⁸³

Age: 3| Weight: 9-0| J: K Shoemark| T: C Hills

2/1

Ran nowhere near the level that was expected on seasonal bow at Newmarket (1m; good to firm) in April. Something was evidently amiss though as she hasn't been seen since. Should be given another chance as she looked a promising sort beforehand.

Form: 2-9

Forecasts

Morning Duel (6/4), Stagehand (2/1), Power Player (9/2), Ghanim (10/1), Abwab (14/1), Ningaloo (20/1), Ganton Eagle (150/1)

There are plenty of runners in this contest who have questions marks against them, namely Stagehand after she ran well below-par on her reappearance run in April. She has been afforded plenty of time to recover from whatever contributed to that disappointment and would hold a major chance if able to reproduce the form of her debut effort. Clear preference is for MORNING DUEL though, who couldn't justify market support when third at Catterick last time, but the soft ground may have hindered his chances and back on a sounder surface he can make amends. Power Player can prove best of the rest after not being beaten too far in a three-runner affair at Haydock recently.