SANDOWN
2.05pm: Impressor has a lofty rating of 99 but I like his claims, and he is an each way bet if all eight go to post. He looked very good when winning at Salisbury and then he put up his best performance in the Group 3 Horris Hill, at Newmarket, on his final start. He has had a wind op and he could be the answer to this.
2.40pm: Sunday Sovereign has joined Roger Varian and I have heard he has been working very well through the spring. He disappointed when a strong favourite for the Norfolk but he had earlier looked very good – he beat Arizona easily in his maiden – and I like his chances.
3.15pm: Solid Stone is the kind of horse that you would follow over a cliff but, even so, he could be worth siding with here. We all know that Sir Michael Stoute is a dab hand with his older horses and perhaps a gelding operation could bring out the best in this one. He ran well enough when placed off this mark last season, including at this course, and you suspect there could be better to come from him.
NEWBURY
1.50pm: I don’t get the fact that Man Of The Night is the outsider of the field here. He had the favourite, It’s Good To Laugh, behind him when second in the Haynes, Hanson and Clark here for starters. That was his best effort to date but I thought his fourth in the Listed race at Salisbury was just as good a pointer to his chances here. The bare form is good – impressive recent Kempton winner Berlin Tango was only ½ length in front of him there – but if you take a look at that race then he possibly could have finished second if not drifting across the track. He has his stamina to prove and wouldn’t want too much rain – he is out of a Bernardini mare – but I think his mark is fair and the return to this left-handed track, where he also won his novice, will suit.
2.25pm: The official ratings tell that you this is wide open, so it’s a nightmare race to call. I will go with Foxtrot Lady, who shaped well at Kempton last week and is a consistent filly.
3.00pm: You don’t know what you be up against here with lightly-raced fillies from the Gosden and Varian stables, to name just two, but Oriental Mystique, who I rode on debut, shouldn’t be ignored. She has been working well and did it well at Kempton back in November. She will appreciate the ground – her dam Madame Chiang won a Fillies And Mares at Ascot on heavy, so any rain should be fine – and she is bred to progress well at three and beyond.
3.35pm: This looks like King Of Comedy’s to lose if he behaves himself. He is obviously not straightforward but he is clearly the form horse – and he gets weight from four of these as well – on his St James’s Palace Stakes and Juddmonte runs.
CURRAGH
7.15pm: Albigna is a class apart in the Irish 1000 Guineas on what we have seen so far. I know there are loads of unexposed fillies in here but they have a long way to go to get to her Group 1-winning level. I rode in the Breeders Cup Juvenile and she flew past me in the straight, running a blinder in fourth despite not handling the track at all. And her earlier Boussac win obviously reads very well, too.
