1.50pm Sandown

Laguna Beach

He had a spin around here in November before I rode him to win at Hereford. He has had a short break since a good second at Ascot last time and hopefully he can be competitive here in what is obviously a very deep race and a full field. A mark of 128 does not look overly-generous but he is clearly lightly-raced and open to improvement.

2.27pm Sandown

Spirits Bay

He wasn’t beaten far when seventh in this race last season and he is 1lb lower here. A chasing campaign was put on hold when he went back over hurdles at Taunton last time, and the heavy ground wouldn’t have been ideal there. You can certainly see an each-way case for him but this looks an incredibly tough handicap and another full field.

3.35pm Sandown

Calimystic

We also had him in the 2m4f handicap chase on the card but we have decided to go with the longer distance option here. He obviously made a great return for us when winning at Newbury over an extended 2m6f, albeit very narrowly, and hopefully a 4lb rise won’t stop him from being competitive here. The 4lb for a short-head win was a touch harsh maybe, but we were well clear of the third and decent ground here will suit him.

4.10pm Sandown

Akimos

He obviously didn’t run his race at Haydock last time and he makes his chasing debut for us here. He makes it on a fair mark too on the best of his hurdling form, which happened to come here when just touched off in November. This is a tricky track to make your fencing bow on, so let’s see how he gets on after that run at Haydock last time.