Sandown Park 08/07/2023 – Preview
On Saturday the feature racing comes from Sandown Park where we have the second and final day of the Eclipse meeting. Check out our YouTube and Social Media Channels for our teams’ thoughts on the big race itself (3:40). Alongside the Eclipse Stakes, our team of expert tipsters have looked through the remainder of the card and identified 4 further selections to note.
1:50 – Coral Charge (Group 3)
Several of these runners arrive in winning form, with Tiber Flow top of that list after a victory at Newcastle last weekend.
He should run his race and has another good draw to help his chances, but the suspicion is that he is a better horse on an artificial surface, and this is a much deeper contest than the race he won 7-days ago. The wide draw is enough to put us off Equilateral, who needs everything to fall into place to get his head in front so instead we will take a chance on Marshman.
Karl Burke’s 3-year-old has been running in much deeper races than this, including when a creditable 7th in the Kings Stand at Royal Ascot last time. This is a marked drop in class and with a good draw in stall 3, there are no real excuses for him this time. He has produced a time figure of 117 this season (at York in May) and that is the fastest figure on offer in this field. On a similar track with Fast ground to help him, he may simply have too much speed for his rivals.
2:25 – Coral Challenge Handicap
The most obvious starting point for this race should be Sceptic. He is the unexposed 3-year-old in the field and looks to be improving rapidly after a very impressive win at Goodwood last time where he ran a time just 0.96s outside the standard.
That was a huge effort for a horse on just his 5th start and the 6lb rise shouldn’t be any concern, but the wide draw is. Stall 14 will make this a very difficult task and may force Hollie Doyle to take a pull and ride him for luck. On fast ground at Sandown Park, racing towards the rear may not be ideal and it might be too much to overcome for such an inexperienced horse.
None of the runners who went to Royal Ascot make a great deal of appeal so this race could go to the other improver in the field, Indemnify. He got the better of Aerion Power and Helm Rock when winning over this course and distance in May before being sold out of the Roger Varian yard to £120,000. He makes his first start for Alice Haynes at a track where her runners have a 33% strike rate in the last 5-seasons and his new mark of 92 looks very fair. He is drawn fairly in stall 8 and should be able to get into a prominent racing position from there which could set the race up perfectly for him.
3:00 Coral Distaff (Listed Race)
This is a competitive renewal of the Distaff but there is one horse who stands out on our notes and that is Magical Sunset. Although she finished 8th in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot, but that really doesn’t tell the whole story. She was drawn on the far side, which was completely against the track bias and was the only horse who raced in the far side group to finish in the first 10, winning her group by over 3-lengths despite hanging in the closing stages.
She should get a much fairer chance on the round course here and with Ryan Moore taking over the ride she is worth backing.
4:50 – Coral Racing Club Handicap
A case can be made for several of these 3-year-olds and the horses rising in class, like the Ffos Las winner Merlin the Wizard and the Kempton winner New Business do look capable of winning a race like this.
New Business is likely to be very popular in the market and although he didn’t need to improve to win at Kempton last month, his earlier form, when 3rd to Passenger in the Wood Ditton at Newmarket reads well in hindsight. He is inexperienced, but he has shown enough to suggest that he will prove to be better than a mark of 87 in time. However, as a son of Sea the Stars, he will probably need a greater test of stamina than this and may be vulnerable to a horse with a more genuine turn-of-foot.
Tiger Bay was unlucky to bump into Under the Twilight at Salisbury and although she was beaten fairly, she was 3-lengths clear of the rest in second place and is probably fortunate to have been left on the same mark by the handicapper. It is never an easy task for the Fillies to take on the Colts, but her time figures would suggest she can run to the required level, especially on fast ground and she is worth chancing.
