Monday Racing: A trio of punts from our traders to kick start the week

2.40 Ayr – Colour Contrast @ 11/2

I quite like the top weight here Colour Contrast for Iain Jardine, who has run very well on his last two starts coming from further back than ideal on both occasions. This race seems to lack much depth and reproduction of either of his last two runs should see him going very close. The one worry with him is there could be a lack of pace on, with only Kodimoor for Mark Walford likely to want to go forward. I’m hoping he goes hard enough for Colour Contrast and if he does then he looks sure to go close.

3.10 – Here’s Rocco @ 8/1

This does not look a strong race so I’m going to take a chance on the unexposed Here’s Rocco for John Quinn, who hasn’t shown anything as of yet this season, though has dropped to a fair mark as a result. He has one good run to his name, which came over 7f on good ground at Redcar last season, conditions he hasn’t faced since until today. He was well beaten on his last two starts at Thirsk and Carlisle, though travelled quite nicely on both occasions before being unable to pick up on the ground. At Carlisle, in particular, he was better than the bare result as he was badly hampered by a horse falling in front of him just as the race developed. He’s back down to a mark of 55, getting the three-year-old allowance against what look very exposed older horses, so this would look as good an opportunity to win a race as he’ll ever get.

16:40 – Alfa McGuire @ 9/1

I like Alfa Mcguire here for rookie trainer Philip Makin, who on some of his old form would look thrown in off a mark of 73. He was a very good 2 year old, running really well in a big sales race at Doncaster (beaten 4 ½ lengths by Laugh a Minute, who’s rated 105 now), prior to finishing a well beaten 10^th in the old Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster, behind guineas winner Saxon Warrior with Roaring Lion in 2^nd. He struggled a bit as a 3-year-old, though was running off marks in the 90’s and still managed to be competitive. He ran quite well on stable debut this year, in a competitive Redcar handicap over a mile, before being stepped up in trip with his latest two runs being over 1 mile furlongs, a trip he blatantly doesn’t seem to stay. He drops back to a mile today and drops into a class 5 handicap for the first time in his career and if he retains any of his old ability he should be going very close to winning this.