Horse racing tips: Three best bets for Monday

I start to first think about the proximity of the jumps season after Goodwood and, with a memorable Ebor Festival now concluded from York, that focus has just sharpened a little despite plenty still to look forward to on the Flat in the coming months.

I’m quite keen on one at Stratford and have a couple of picks at Ballinrobe, a valuable card which is graced by the belated return of the very smart Ballyoisin. The dual-Grade Two scorer had A Plus Tard behind him on his last victory back in November 2019.

This sound jumper has plenty in his favour and makes appeal given his experience edge over fences while still possessing fair scope for improvement.

Wind surgery has seemingly done the trick for Cape Robin, with the form of his second at Ffos Las on his penultimate start working out a treat before winning by over nine lengths in facile fashion last time. He’s taken a 10lb hike in the handicap for that, but the rise is more than merited and the way he was hanging and idling up the straight once forced to go on three furlongs from home at Worcester probably masked his true superiority somewhat.

Cape Robin is dropped out in his races and can race a little keenly, so the front-running Royal Ruby and Goa Lil - and possibly Don’t Ask – are important to his chance, while others here like to race prominently too.

While the form of the Tim Vaughan yard isn't ideal – just a handful of winners this calendar year – Cape Robin was the stable’s latest winner, while he gets weight from most of his rivals here with those horses having questions to answer to varying degrees. He looks to hold a good chance.

Erins Benefit is not an original choice, but her chance is abundantly clear in what looks a weak contest.

While she’s yet to win in eight starts over hurdles, this consistent mare has only finished out of the first three once and might well have won at Tramore last winter but for unseating her rider when in front at the final flight ahead of a very short run-in. I wouldn’t question her attitude and she did win a bumper by a wide margin this time last year.

This is her first run after a break, but she'll surely be straight enough given connections will be very keen to win a mares’ maiden with her after several near-misses and her consistent profile suggests she should give something like her running. Erins Benefit only debuted over Rules last July but has since had 12 runs and proven reliable.

Darragh O’Keeffe takes over from Denis O'Regan in the saddle which might result in just the small change required for Erins Benefit. Given she's had a break and the fact she has 14 rivals here, hopefully her price holds up - I think anything above 2/1 would look fair enough.

Siberian Star is worth chancing at a double-figure price after an interesting debut over fences at Tipperary last month.

Dropped right over 2m3f – tactics that usually don’t pay dividends at this speed track – he was allowed to do things in his own time and, while his jumping was OK, he looked perfectly safe before making quite nice progress in the final third of the race. He looked a bit green still in this quiet introduction, but once got after by James O’Sullivan in the final furlong he picked up pretty strongly and closed well towards the line.

Ballinrobe is another track where it favours to be prominent, but after going close in a handicap hurdle last time the hope is that Siberian Star takes a more forward position and jumps a tad quicker than his debut experience.

Ballinrobe is a fair journey from Philip Rothwell’s Wicklow base and the trainer is showing excellent figures at the track this season, with six winners from 14 runners at performance 188% above market expectation.

Ennemi Public is a deserving favourite and he jumped well on chase debut at Wexford last time, but he had quite a hard race and this is a relatively quick turnaround, while the step-up in trip might not prove ideal for a horse that has ultimately found it hard to win.