Sport

Go straight to the Top at York

STILL ON TOP ran a blinder in defeat at York recently and is fancied to provide Tim Easterby with big-race success in the Irish Champions Weekend EBF Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy.

The son of Royal Applause made a good impression on debut at Pontefract at the start of August, with the acceleration he showed off inside the last of six furlongs marking him down as above average. That said, he was in far deeper in a valuable sales race at the recent Ebor meeting on the Knavesmire, so it was was quite an effort to pick up minor honours in third.

The winner of that event, Tasleet, was already a dual winner and Group Two placed having chased home the hugely exciting Shalaa in Goodwood’s Richmond Stakes.

The fact Still on Top managed to get within three-quarters of a length of such a talented and significantly more experienced juvenile suggests he is well up to competing in Listed company and he should be hard to beat in the feature event on another busy Bank Holiday schedule.

Penitent can perhaps benefit from having his sights lowered a shade in the Ripon Rowels Handicap. David O’Meara’s admirable veteran was rated as high as 115 in his pomp after winning the Lincoln and multiple Pattern-race prizes, but has not hit the bullseye since May of last year.

The season so far has not been devoid of promise, however, with Penitent running well in Listed company on a couple of occasions and he was not beaten all that far in a valuable handicap at York last time. Now in the twilight of his career at the age of nine, the 11-time winner is clearly not the force of old, but the assessor has given him a real chance with a revised rating of 95, his lowest mark since that Lincoln strike well over five years ago and this is his easiest assignment in quite a while.

English Summer is the stand-out bet at Epsom in the Arrive Hungry At Gatwick Amateur Derby. The eight-year-old has already shown a liking for a track that does not suit ever horse, winning on the Downs back in late July, and showed he can win again off his new mark when a solid third at Newmarket recently.

He will not lack assistance from the saddle, with trainer Richard Fahey going to the trouble of booking Patrick Mullins for the ride, so everything points to a huge run.

Taqwaa will surely come good in Chepstow’s Dorothy Mort Memorial/EBF Maiden.

IRISH NEWS YANKEE


Nap: Still On Top (3.45pm, Ripon)


Double: English Summer (4.15pm, Epsom)


Treble: Taqwaa (2.10pm, Chepstow)


Yankee: Shahbar (2.25pm, Newcastle)