Ribhi to return to winning form
Ribhi can atone for his recent misadventures with victory in the British EBF Radcliffe & Co Conditions Stakes at Salisbury tomorrow.
Marcus Tregoning’s Shadwell colt was an emphatic course-and-distance winner on his debut last month – belying odds of 20-1 to easily account for an odds-on favourite, who already had two placed runs under his belt.
Connections were sufficiently impressed to move Ribhi immediately up to Listed class in the Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting.
That assignment did not go according to plan, however – and neither did Ribhi’s most recent trip to the races, when he never even got the chance to run in last week’s Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket.
The son of Dark Angel headed to HQ with fine credentials, after running well but simply without luck on Town Moor.
Ribhi was beaten only two lengths into fifth there, despite finding significant trouble in running and having to switch wide for room to deliver a late challenge.
He was then set to stick to seven furlongs, up to Group Three company, but was a late withdrawal at Newmarket after overdoing the preliminaries and bolting to post.
There was no previous indication of such tendencies – and back at six furlongs in familiar surroundings, Ribhi and jockey Jim Crowley have an obvious shot at compensation.
Earlier on the card, the William Hill Play Responsibly British EBF Novice Stakes is an intriguing prospect in which Conservative just gets the vote.
Martyn Meade’s juvenile is one of two in the field who seem sure to improve after very promising debuts.
Like Conservative, Brian Meehan’s Hannibal Barca finished third at his first attempt.
Both narrowly failed to overcome their evident inexperience, finding their feet just a little too late over this trip of seven furlongs.
But it was Conservative’s late headway which caught the eye especially at Yarmouth two weeks ago and if he is just a little more switched on from the outset here, then he is the likeliest winner.
March Law, a year older and wiser, may prove the class act in the William Hill Extra Place Races Handicap.
Mark Johnston’s colt was a 2020 Royal Ascot runner-up in a light campaign as a juvenile, and has indicated in just two attempts after a belated return only last month that he can continue to progress up to this distance of 10 furlongs.
He looked a bit keen on more than one occasion last year, including when he managed by only the narrowest margin to win a match on his third and final start as the long odds-on favourite at Ayr.