Ritasun can rise to challenge

● Hannon charge ready to shine on all-weather surface

Ritasun has so far reserved his best efforts for an all-weather surface and he can add a third win to his career tally as he returns to action in the totepoolliveinfo.com Handicap at Chelmsford.

The three-year-old was tried three times on the turf in 2015 but after coming up well short on all occasions, Richard Hannon understandably turned his attentions to the synthetic surfaces later in the year, with Ritasun stepping up to the mark when scoring at Wolverhampton last November.

While he could not follow up back at Dunstall Park on Boxing Day, Ritasun soon got his head in front again when winning at Southwell in January before having to settle for second behind subsequent Listed winner Nezwaah at Wolverhampton back in February. Obviously that threeand-a-half-length defeat looks a fine effort in retrospect and, given he has been off the track since that outing, it would appear Ritasun has been rested up for an all-weather campaign this winter.

Racing off a mark of 78 here, Ritasun clearly has to overcome his lack of a recent run, but he could well prove up to the task.

Ebbesbourne is worth watching as she makes her racecourse bow in the toteexacta Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

Sir Michael Stoute trains this Teofilo filly for owner-breeder James Wigan and she is part of a very useful family indeed with the likes of Eagle Mountain, Dank and Sulk among her near relatives.

Her dam, Ebble, was not much to write home about but did manage an all-weather win during her short racing career and that must bode well for this filly.

Cartwright is bound to be a popular choice in the Alteryx Handicap at Newcastle but it is hard to oppose a horse who ran out an 18-length winner just last week.

A son of High Chaparral out of Group One winner One So Marvellous, connections might have hoped to have had a Classic contender taken solely on his sales page.

A 160,000 guineas purchase in 2014, Cartwright failed to set the world alight in three starts last year but has hit his groove this term, improving for a step up to middle distance trips to win at both Lingfield and Carlisle in August.

A slightly lacklustre effort at Chelmsford in early September was soon forgotten at Pontefract last time when he kicked for home a couple of furlongs out over a mile and a half to win in style in an apprentice heat.

He duly avoids a penalty for that win here and while he is off a 2lb higher mark, his trainer Sir Mark Prescott must surely be expecting a hefty hike up the weights and it is easy to understand why he makes such a swift return.

Purple Party seems to enjoy a trip to Brighton and he can strike gold again in the first division of the Park Lane Group Handicap.