Rachel Candelora's top tips for Wednesday evening: Destination makes sense

While most eyes were focused on Epsom on Friday and Saturday, I was enjoying the two-day evening meeting at Stratford which was my first ever visit for the Horse and Hound Meeting. I was impressed.

There were good crowds with extremely knowledgeable fans, and the racing was very competitive.

The ride of the night had to go Sam Waley-Cohen on Wonderful Charm in the Horse and Hound itself, as Wonderful Charm did not want to know at any point in the race yet, under a never-say-die ride, Sam got him up right at the line.

Looking towards this weekend, I hope the rain stays away from Haydock as I am looking forward to seeing Tip Two Win make his belated comeback, while across the pond, Belmont Park in New York hosts one of the great days of racing on Saturday with Belmont Stakes Day.

European entries are out in force during the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, with Hugo Palmer’s Mootasadir leading a three-pronged European challenge in the Grade Two $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup over two miles on Friday.

However, the main danger for him will be fellow European raider Amade for Alessandro Botti who cleaned up in the UK on the All-Weather this winter and will get a much better pace to run at.

And, on the Saturday, in the Grade 1 Met Mile, Thunder Snow will be making his US return after a record breaking second win in the Dubai World Cup.

As for Wednesday’s vast array of racing, I am going to wait until the evening with the Kempton and Ripon cards.

Destination showed a good level of progression from his debut run to his second start by winning well over seven furlongs at Wetherby last month.

He beat a last-time-out winner in Boston George, with John Gosden’s Franz Kafka back in third, and these three pulled well clear of the rest of the strung-out field.

Franz Kafka has since won at Brighton franking this form. This son of Mukhadram showed more pace last time out and jockey James Doyle should be able to use this, combined with his experience, to get a good position from stall 12.

While Destination has to concede a 6lb penalty, he looks a big, strong horse, and the other form on show does not inspire much confidence in his rivals.

This appears to be a really strong line-up for the featured sprint of the night at Ripon, but bottom weight Bossipop looks like he may represent some value.

He boasts an excellent record at this track - two wins and four seconds from 10 starts at the course - and, although he is the bottom weight here, he has scored in contests equally as strong as this in the past.

I like the fact that he is drawn high, as I think that this race will develop against the stands' side rail, and he also looks primed for a classic third-run-off-a-break big performance.

Trainer Ian Williams has his team in great form at present and I would not be surprised if he is keen to try and push the rating of this versatile eight-year-old up a little higher with a view to trying to get into some of the major staying races on the Flat this summer, including the Northumberland Plate, which he has an entry in.

Having won twice during the winter over hurdles, he returned to the Flat at Chester last month and, on unsuitable heavy ground, he still ran a belter of a race to finish third in the Chester Plate – the consolation race for those who did not get in to the Chester Cup.

Has to carry a 5lb penalty in this novice event, having won on his official Flat debut at Mussleburgh last month, but that is no worry as he defied a double penalty when winning for the third time in bumpers earlier this year.

He looks to be a horse with a really bright future and, although it is sometimes a worry to support a short-priced horse running for the first time over the undulations of Ripon, it is worth noting that he made a winning debut in his first bumper on an undulating track at Carlisle.