THIRSK'S Hunt Cup could go Rio Riva's way provided he's not badly hindered by a dreadful draw, writes Colin Woods.

Emerging from stall 15 means Rio Riva (4.50) is stranded out in the car park, just three berths away from the so-called "coffin box" for the £25,000 one-mile feature.

Normally racing wide is a recipe for disaster, but there's a crumb of comfort for our Racing North ten-to-follow pick because Julie Camacho's gelding is a confirmed hold-up horse.

Tactically speaking this will allow Tom Hamilton to ride with patience, rather than chasing the certain fast pace set by the rail runners.

Tom is going to need luck, nonetheless if Rio Riva can reproduce the acceleration showed when collecting on his Redcar reappearance, anything is possible.

Ignore Dakota Rain (4.15) at your peril for the £13,000 Scottish Racing Handicap.

Richard Guest began his training career with virtually 100 per cent National Hunt stock, however realising the big bucks are on the Flat, he's busily building up that side of the operation.

Guest won't be the first trainer to excel with an Arab cast-off and the former Sheikh Mohammed-owned four-year-old is ripe for further improvement

I particularly like Richard's idea of bringing back Dakota Rain to seven furlongs, indeed it could be Messrs Mohammed and Jarvis missed a trick by not trying Dakota Rain over sprint distances.

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