Zuider Zee ready to cash in

TOP southern stables launch a big raid on the new £80,000 totesport.com Edinburgh Cup (3.10pm) at Musselburgh tomorrow – the highlight of a £200,000 card which is a great credit to racecourse boss Bill Farnsworth and his team.

And the big prize can fall to Zuider Zee, who travels north from Newmarket and is a rare runner on the East Lothian track for leading trainer John Gosden, who thinks highly of the three-year-old and has entered him for a major event at Royal Ascot.

So with just 7st 13lb to carry in this mile-and-a-half handicap, Zuider Zee looks worth support, especially as he has won two of his four races so far and looks a progressive young stayer.

Spanish Duke – successful in three of his last four races – makes the long trek from John Dunlop's Sussex yard, while Mark Johnston saddles three runners, including top weight Corsica who has won his last four races, but Zuider Zee gets my vote.

A maximum field of useful sprinters line up for the totescoop6 Scottish Sprint Cup (3.40pm) including recent York winner Hamish McGonagall, who was fourth in this event 12 months ago. But he has top weight now and a wide draw to contend with, so I prefer the chances of stable companion The Nifty Fox.

The six-year-old is at the other end of the weights and smart apprentice Barry McHugh will claim a valuable 3lb allowance. The Nifty Fox has a course and distance win to his credit and has never been out of the frame in five visits to the seaside track. He has a good draw near the rails and a narrow defeat at Ayr recently suggests he is about to hit top form.

Excel Bolt was an impressive winner on his debut at the last meeting here and can take the first running of the new juvenile event – the 25,000 totesport Edinburgh Castle Stakes (2.35pm) en route to a crack at the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. The youngster should do well even though he faces six previous winners.

Engulf is another Newmarket raider who can go home with a prize by winning the Turf TV Handicap (5.25pm) which closes what promises to be a superb card. The three-year-old showed promise when fifth on his only juvenile start and was a close sixth on his reappearance at Newbury before going down narrowly in the middle of last month.

Joe Rowntree's Musselburgh Selections: 2.35 Excel Bolt; 3.10 Zuider Zee; 3.40 The Nifty Fox; 5.25 Engulf.