Epsom stages its traditional curtain raiser for the new season on Wednesday and it is a good quality card. After a lovely sunny Easter, the rain returned on Tuesday and the going is officially soft for the fixture which includes the Derby Trial.
It is a long time since this race lived up to the title but there are some nice colts in action this season. John Gosden runs two unbeaten horses, the pick of which is Marzocco. He has been given an entry in the Dante Stakes at York so has to be respected. I am just going to side with the Godolphin horse Moontime who beat Munjaz at Newmarket last season.
In theory, Gosden will know the time of day with this one as he trains Munjaz. That colt duly won his maiden at the Craven meeting but Moontime has plenty of scope for improvement and could be another for Sheikh Mohammed’s promising bunch of three-year-olds.
The Great Met and The City And Suburban are two of the oldest handicaps on the calendar and it is good to see them attracting decent fields again. Ryan Moore is flying at the moment and he has a great chance of a big handicap double here with Red Runaway and Rock Choir.
Red Runaway is trained by Ed Dunlop and has a healthy weight advantage with Van Percy on last year’s Chester form. Van Percy did beat him at Haydock but that was on firm ground and Red Runaway will be more at home on this surface. He is yet to win over a mile and a half but Moore is not averse to offering his opinion on his mounts and this race looks to have been picked out following his easy Lingfield victory.
Rock Choir lost her way a little towards the back end of the season but only after winning twice for William Haggas and running a fair third in Listed company at Salisbury. She looked the type to progress from three to four and Moore could be a significant booking in a wide open race. Ajman Bridge was slightly disappointing last season for Luca Cumani but still has room for improvement and is rated the main danger.
Red Runaway 2.20 Epsom at 5-1 Bet365
Moontime 2.50 Epsom at 5-1 Coral
Rock Choir 3.25 Epsom at 11-2 Totesport
