Epsom 5.50
Epsom 5.50 - A 6 furlong Sprint Class 2 and veteran Ashpan Sam (twice) and Reputation are former winners of this race, of the pair whilst Ashpan Sam makes seasonal debut and is not the horse he was REPUTATION would seem to have an excellent chance now running for Ruth Carr, he was one of my short list of 6 horses here and only his Handicap Mark puts me off a bet.
I think BEYOND EQUAL has a decent shout but is upped in Class and he is the second of the 6 horses to be discarded from the short list and more reluctantly I leave off MOUNTAIN PEAK drawn in Stall 8, had had and needed seasonal debut, should strip fitter and a horse who won off 70-76-83 least year, just a niggle in my mind about the mark today of 88 but definitely a horse to watch in decent races all season.
That leaves me with 3 and I will have a 1/2 point each way saver on WATCHABLE who ticks every box, Course form, form in this specific race and has a nice draw withOisin Murphy booked by David O'Meara, at the price the "saver" of the race.
At bigger odds though I am quietly confident that HELVETIAN and STONE OF DESTINY will run very well here. HELVETIAN has a middle to high draw, in 11, has won nice comparable Class 2 races off marks of 88 + 89; runs off a mark of 87 here, has a decent young pilot up and looks primed to run a big race if handling the track and getting luck in running. STONE OF DESTINY is similarly well handicapped, drawn in stall 9, has De Souza up for Ian Balding and a 4th place in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last year suggests it won't be phased by the size of the field, or the occasion, although I suspect that by 5.50 most of the toffs will be inebriated and Epsom will be a litter pickers field with a fraction of the Crowd left, which is a great shame for a race of this depth.