Coral-Eclipse Day

Professional tipster Ben Merritt gives his thoughts on today's racing...

4:25 Newmarket - ROYAL ZABEEL 6/1 (NAP)

ROYAL ZABEEL dances in all the big dances these days and this represents a significant drop in class to the races he's been running on of late. Drawn terribly, he had next to no chance over 6f in the Wokingham and is better judged on his excellent 5th in the Victoria Cup, also at Ascot, the time before. Ascot, given his front running tendencies, wouldn't be his track and is much more suited to a course that fares well to front runners. 1 from 1 over this C&D, he's a listed winner who is also racing off a mark that is just 1lb lower than for that last turf win, last August. Jason Watson gets on with him well (40% strike rate) and, again, the yard are in great form. There's not much pace in the race so I expect him and Goldmoyne to battle this one out.

5:22 Sandown - FLYING FRONTIER 5/1 (Next Best)

Having won this race last year, and loving this course, FLYING FRONTIER has been laid out for another crack at it by his trainer who has also booked last years winning jockey. I don't know why he has such an affiliation with this course, because his run style is usually the opposite of what you need here. He loves to be held up last, find as much trouble as possible and be delivered on the line and with a few front runners here that should be perfect for him too. Racing off a mark of 94 today, he's 1lb lower than for that win in last years race and, based on the ratings of those running, this is a much weaker running of the race too. The horse was better than the bare result of his run at Redcar last time out, having been unlucky in running, and the yard are going along well too.

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