Hi all,
There’s a decent Sandown card this afternoon and its tempted me in for the first time this week. The feature contest is the Grade 2 Jane Seymour Novices’ Hurdle (2.30). Aston Martini, unbeaten on her three starts under rules, will bid to follow up her recent Lingfield success and is the early bird favourite.
There’s another race for military amateur jockeys with the latest renewal of the Royal Artillery Gold Cup (3.05). Farceur Du Large winner of Grand Military Gold Cup at the last meeting will be a short price to do the double.
Besides those races there are three competitive handicaps and I have selections in two of them.
Sandown
1:55 – Etalon made it 2-2 over fences when beating a sole rival at Warwick last month. A mark 0f 131 won’t prove the summit of his ability and should complete the hat trick. Red Rookie ran better last time on good ground but is better suited to soft ground and has each way claims. Gunsight Ridge is a previous C&D winner had yet to make had yet to make his effort when falling four out at Wetherby last month. That was his first start for 14 months. The Last Day needs to jump better than he did when runner-up in that Wetherby race. He isn’t probably as good as he used to be but he’s 2lb lower than winning a valuable 2m handicap chase at Aintree in 2022.
4:15 – Fern Hill failed to stay 3m 5f when pulling up in the Surrey National at Lingfield 25 days ago. He’s better judged on an encouraging seasonal return when a 6 ¼ length 3rd of 10 at Chepstow in December. Three mile is as far as he wants to go and he’s 3lb below his last winning mark. Bretney has placed on all three starts this season. He stays a lot further than 3m, won the North Wales National (3m 5f) at Bangor 12 months ago, and is likely to get an uncontested lead here.
4:46 – Trainer Rebecca Curtis who has 21% win strike rate with her LTO winners and saddles Valens Bruyee. The 6-year-old looked improved when winning a Chepstow Novice hurdle (2m) 22 days ago. The drop back to 2m suited him but there’s a good chance he will stay 2m 4f. Needs to improve to defy an opening mark of but could well do so.
Betting Advice:
Sandown
1:55 – Gunsight Ridge – 1pt win – 9/1 @ Bet365 and The Last Day – 0.5pts each way – 25/1 @ Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook
4:15 – Fern Hill – 1pt win – 14/1 @ Bet365 and Bretney – 1pt win – 10/1 @ Coral & Ladbrokes
4:46 – Valens Bruyee – 1pt win – 7/1 @ Coral & Ladbrokes.
Cheers
John