Horse racing: Zip Top looks the perfect fit for Bolger in Racing Post Trophy

JIM Bolger’s Zip Top looks the value call to cut down Derby favourite Camelot in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.

Supplemented into the Group One on Monday morning, the Sheikh Mohammed-owned colt looked to be crying out for a step up to a mile when he last ran. That was in the Tattersall Stakes at Newmarket and, while at the time the Group Three did not look that strong, subsequent events have proved it was a red-hot renewal.

The fourth home, Aidan O’Brien’s Crusade, has since won the Group One Middle Park very impressively when dropped to six furlongs, and the fifth, the Charlie Hills-trained Letsgoroundagain, hacked up in a decent Listed race at Pontefract earlier in the week.

Zip Top finished just in front of those two in third but flew up the hill, having initially failed to act on the descent. The extra furlong should see him in an even better light. He beat Royal Lodge runner-up Tenth Star on his debut before getting stuck in the soft ground in the Anglesey Stakes.

Camelot was expected to win on debut – he was the 1-3 favourite, after all – but he has been off the track since and not one single horse has come out and franked the form since. John Gosden’s Skilful looks a young horse on the up, and can take advantage of favourable terms in the Racing And Football Outlook Conditions Stakes. He was only second at Thirsk following a Lingfield maiden win, but that was his first run for four months. He is in receipt of weight off some massively-inferior rivals here and looks a banker bet.

Master Minded looks unopposable on his seasonal return in the Monet’s Garden Betfred Old Roan Chase at Aintree. He looked a revelation when stepped up in trip after finding things happening too quickly for him in the Queen Mother. He meets Albertas Run on 10lb worse terms than in April but Jonjo O’Neill’s veteran is at his best much later in the year.

Meanwhile, Ayr’s Flat meeting next Saturday will be run on the hurdles course, meaning the minimum distance for any of the races will be nine furlongs. The last meeting on 6 October was abandoned halfway through due to false patches of ground. “We’ve changed from the Flat course to the hurdle course,” said clerk of the course Emma Marley. “The abandoned races were on the sprint course. Due to the layout of the hurdle course the minimum race distance we can have is one-mile-one-furlong. It will be a seven-race card. Five over one-mile-one, one over one-mile-six and one over one-mile-seven.”