SANDOWN – FRIDAY

12:45 Handicap Chase

Igor (Sam Waley-Cohen)

He was running a very good race last time and would have almost certainly finished placed but unfortunately fell at the penultimate fence which was a real shame but he’s schooled plenty since and jumps very well so hopefully that hasn’t knocked his confidence. He’s a big, gross horse who we always thought would make a good chaser and the step up in trip is definitely in his favour so I’m very hopeful.

1:50 Novices Handicap Chase

Morning Vicar (Nico de Boinville)

He’s a very lightly raced horse who got put up 6lbs for winning impressively at Newbury where he jumped impeccably and I still think there could be more to come from him. The ground is likely to be quite testing but he shouldn’t have a problem with that and he’s an extremely consistent person who tries very hard, and if he put up the same sort of performance we saw last time, he should be bang there.

3:35 Mares’ Handicap Hurdle

Vegas Blue (Nico de Boinville)

I could not work out her run at Kempton last time but she was never moving well and going absolutely nowhere throughout the whole race so I’m afraid I can offer no explanation, it really was awful. But she seems absolutely fine since and her work has been very good so I’m just going to put it down to an off day because she’s much better than that. I would be nervous about her in soft ground but I’ve just spoken to the owners and we’re going to let her run and hope we see something better than last time.