The David O'Meara-trained Frontier Fighter has already scored four times this year and, though this is a stronger contest than those he has been winning, he is taken to add to his tally. The five-year-old only made his racecourse debut on Boxing Day, finishing second at Wolverhampton, but he has improved rapidly since, hitting the mark three times on the all-weather prior to winning on his turf debut at Pontefract. He shaped well in defeat at Musselburgh last time, finding only Next Edition too strong, and it could just be that a return to a mile on less testing ground suits ideally.
Amaze wasn't at his best last time but these conditions should suit him well and he can resume winning ways in what is an admittedly trappy event. The five-year-old showed a good attitude when digging deep to land a gruelling affair at Ayr in October, adding to his success over C&D earlier in the year; he shaped well on his penultimate start at this venue, finishing third to Two For Two, and he is the type to bounce back rapidly from a below-par effort at Chester last time.
Often in sprints at Ripon it can pay to race prominently tight against the stands side rail, and those are the tactics David Allan is expected to employ aboard Blue Shoes in the 16:40. The four-year-old, trained by Tim Easterby, is well berthed to attack in stall 12 and, having shaped as if in need of the run on her return at Thirsk last month, she could take some stopping. Dark Lane and Haajes both arrive here in fair form and could be up to challenging the selections but the suspicion is that the run of the race will favour Blue Shoes, and she can gain a third career win.
Timeform SmartPlays:
All at Ripon
Back Frontier Fighter @ 4.131/10 in the 15:40
Back Amaze @ 6.05/1 in the 16:10
Back Blue Shoes @ 6.411/2 in the 16:40
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