Follow Tim Easterby's Brother McGonagall to secure Ripon Badgeholders

- Tim Easterby has his string in excellent form and is fancied to add to his tally with Brother McGonagall at Ripon today.

As his name would suggest, the three-year-old is a halfbrother to former stable stalwart Hamish McGonagall, who won 10 races for the same trainer and owners and was placed in the Nunthorpe twice and the Prix de l’Abbaye once.

Brother McGonagall has an awful long way to go if he is to reach those sort of levels, but he is making an excellent fist of things this season, winning three times and climbing the ratings over 7kg in the process.

While Hamish McGonagall was an out-and-out speed machine over 1000m, his sibling has done his winning at around 1600m and crucially has form on the easy ground he is likely to encounter in the Ripon Annual Badgeholders Handicap.

The obvious conclusion to draw from his disappointing effort at York last time is that the handicapper has perhaps caught up with him, but it is not quite that simple, as he ultimately paid for helping to force too strong a pace under an inexperienced apprentice.

Back in a smaller field and with Cam Hardie back on board, he should be seen in a much better light.

West Drive could be the answer to the preceding Follow @ riponraces On Twitter Handicap.

Having hinted at promise in his juvenile season and the early part of his three-year-old campaign, Roger Varian’s charge was gelded last summer and it appears to have brought about the desired improvement.

Since being cut, he has won three times from six starts, most recently proving this 2800m distance within his compass when scoring a shade cosily at Sandown.

A 1.5kg hike seems more than fair and he should take plenty of beating for the formidable combination of trainer Roger Varian and jockey Andrea Atzeni.

Yes You looks to have every chance of completing his hattrick in the first division of the William Hill Join Plus In Shop Today Handicap at Ayr.

Following consecutive placed efforts on her first two starts for Scottish handler Iain Jardine, the chestnut filly opened her account at Hamilton last month and followed up at Redcar less than a fortnight ago.

Jardine is another trainer who has been among the winners in recent days and Yes You remains open to further progress.

Windsor’s MPM Flooring Handicap looks a competitive heat and Godolphin runner Don’t Give Up gets the nod.

Saeed bin Suroor’s Dubawi colt justified short-priced favouritism with a really impressive racecourse debut performance at Kempton in June and was popular with punters again on his first start on turf at Newmarket last month.

While he ultimately let his supporters down, he was only beaten half a length into second place and looked to be crying out for this step up to 2000m.

He faces some useful sorts on his third start, but is a horse to keep on side.