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Horse racing tips: Ayr and Ripon – Monday July 8

Today’s horse racing tips come from Ayr and Ripon. See our expert’s nap of the day, next best and other selections

Horse racing tips: Ayr and Ripon – Monday July 8
Today’s horse racing picks are from Ayr and Ripon

There are five meetings across the UK and Ireland on Monday, three of them on the Flat. 

The action starts with the National Hunt card at Worcester (2.00-5.25pm) and they also go jumping Roscommon (5.00-8.18). Ayr (2.20-5.15), Wolverhampton (4.45-8.40), and Ripon (6.20-9.00) stage the Flat fixtures, with Wolverhampton providing the only all-weather racing.

Among our Monday fancies is one for trainer Tim Easterby who could bounce back to form in a first-time visor.

Horse racing tips today –  Ayr and Ripon

Enda McElhinney’s picks for Monday are below. Scroll down to read the expert analysis behind them.

Odds, correct at time of publishing, may be subject to change.

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Horse racing tips: Ayr 4.40

Nine runners contest this seven-furlong handicap and, with Tommie Jakes claiming a valuable 5lb in the saddle, JUDGMENT CALL rates as our best bet of the day for trainer Linda Perrett.

Jakes is a terrific young rider with 17 winners to his name this year and this six-year-old son of Pivotal threw away his chance at York last time when hanging right across the track in the closing stages. 

Judgment Call raced with plenty of early zest that day and if he can reproduce his effort on his penultimate start – when he was second at Musselburgh off 1lb higher in a better race than this – he has a great chance of finding the winner's enclosure.

This is his favourite track. He’s a dual course-and-distance winner and was running off marks in the 80s not long ago, so he is weighted to strike again.

Selection: Judgment Call @ SP with BetMGM

Horse racing tips: Ripon 7.25

Of the eight runners in this competitive one-mile handicap, Havana Prince and Makalu come here on the back of wins, but a chance is taken on Brian Ellison’s EASTER ISLAND.

Winless in 13 career starts, the five-year-old had mainly been running at around 1m 4f but the drop back to this trip wasn’t an issue when he was third behind Martin’s Brig at Newcastle last time out.

The handicapper has responded with a further 1lb drop in the weights, taking Easter Island to a career-low mark. Although the horse has to prove he can handle a sharp track – his best form having come on stiff tracks – he’s weighted to go very close.

Ellison has sent 17 runners to Ripon in the past five years and despite only one of those succeeding, Easter Island has a decent chance of improving that record in an open contest.

Selection: Easter Island @ SP with BetMGM

Horse racing tips: Ripon 9.00

Last but certainly not least, this 6f handicap is a very competitive contest but there’s every chance we haven’t seen close to the best of Tim Easterby’s ACT OF VIOLENCE, who gets the narrow vote.

The son of Outstrip proved his liking for a sharp track when scoring in a 6f maiden at Catterick last September, tracking the leaders before running on strongly to the line to win comfortably.

Act Of Violence has disappointed since being sent handicapping, beaten a combined 108 lengths in his three starts. He was far too keen in two of those contests and raced far too wide in the other.

He wasn’t without support last time and now connections reach for the first-time visor that will hopefully settle him. He drops into a 0-65 handicap for the first time and will hopefully improve for better ground.

Easterby has won the last two runnings of this contest with Matty Too in 2022 and Glendown in 2023. Both were heavily backed on the day so it will be interesting to see how Act Of Violence fares in the betting. If the money comes for him, he will be of serious interest off his mark.

Selection: Act Of Violence @ SP with BetMGM

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