Looking ahead to a Saturday at Sandown

Sandown Park; the venue for Saturday's Preview

I'll be off to Sandown Park tomorrow courtesy of the top guys at BetracingNation (Give them a follow on Twitter @Betracingnation or look them up on Youtube for some examples of the excellent racing video they produce. Alternatively visit the website and watch the guys live in action!) after I managed to win a couple of tickets entering a competition on the Tuesday night live show....which you can see here Betracing Nation Tingle Creek Competition. As I'll be looking through the card anyway I though I may as well do a little blog preview, missing out the big race of the day - The Tingle Creek - as that is covered already in my ante-post piece published last Monday (Sandown Tingle Creek Ante-Post Focus) and if you read that blog you will understand why I'm pretty happy with my position in this race! So let's get cracking

12.20 2 miles 110 yards - Class 3 Novices Hurdle

Well the opener at Sandown doesn't look the easiest of affairs with the market headed by the Henderson stable debutante Clean Sheet. With trainer in red hot form at the moment (2 winners at the track on Friday) and McCoy booked Clean Sheet will surely only get shorter so I'll put up Masterplan as a tentative alternative selection. He would be a good deal shorter in the market if it weren't for his flop latest when pitched into a listed race at Cheltenham so the return to this lower class on hurdles debut should be more his level. Charlie Longsdon is ticking away nicely at the moment and at 9/1 he could provide a bit of e/w value in a tricky race.

12.50 2 miles 4 furlong Mares Handicap Hurdle

I'm keen on the Warren Greatrex trained mare Royal Moll with the Champ on board here. She was smashed in the market on her debut for the yard last time out where she only found one too good, the front two pulling clear of the remainder. this indicated the yard thought she was on a very good mark and the winner of that race has gone on to win since so should could have bumped into another well treated one there. Royal Moll goes on soft and heavy going and has won over 3 miles so this test, on ground that will be stamina sapping and the stiff uphill finish should be fine for her and she can provide the red-hot stable with another winner here.

1.20 2 mile 6 furlong Handicap Hurdle

This race is another tricky handicap where I'm going to put up Drum Valley as a tentative e/w selection - however I must say I doubt I will be playing in this race on the day! He ran well last time out when runner up in a 3 mile hurdle at Market Rasen and turns up here on the same mark. However the young conditional jockey Ben Ffrench Davis can claim a huge 10lbs off his back and how bad does a jockey have to be to not make a 10lbs claim value?? We know he arrive here a fit horse and I don't think there will be longer term handicap races in mind for this horse - he isn't good enough! This means though we can be assured the yard will be going all out to win this handicap and I'll take a chance that the 10lbs claim can help Drum Valley put up a good showing here.

1.50 2 mile Henry VIII Novices Chase

I'm keen to take Irish Saint here who has already won over the Sandown fences this season, a major positive in a Novice's chase where many a jumper can come undone over the tricky Railway fences down that back straight. His hurdling form is very smart and with that assured round of jumping on fencing debut LTO he is the one for me here. Court Minstrel has impressed so far but may not like the ground, whilst I don't think Vibrato Valtat is a horse who will like to battle to win his races. Dunraven Storm will give my selection the most to think about but I think Irish Saint can build on a promising debut over fences and take this Novice's Chase which has disappointingly cut up a lot since initial entries came out.

2.25 2 mile 110 yards Handicap Hurdle

I quote like Amore Alato here at a nice e/w price of 9/1. He has some very good Grade 2 winning form on soft ground, as well as a proven ability to go on worse ground and at testing tracks like Cheltenham which will stand him in good stead here. Richard Johnson can get him jumping well at the head of this field and front-runners are notoriously tricky to get past around Sandown, where the testing uphill finish can make it difficult to come from too far back. If he is fit and ready to go first time up he will certainly give you a game run for your money at a nice price.

3.00 Tingle Creek - Already previewed elsewhere on the blog

3.35 3 mile 5 furlong 110 yard London National Handicap Chase

The closing race on the card is a grueling long distance handicap chase which can go to trainer of the moment Oliver Sherwood, the stable on a huge high after the Hennessy win of Many Clouds last weekend. Kasbadali represents him here under last week's winning jockey Leighton Aspell and this race looks to have been the target for the selection for some time. He turns up here a fresh horse, which is how he displays his best form (stable starts are very spread out, won first time up last season) and is on the same mark as his 2nd placing lto at the Sandown track (winner has won since as well) making him look potentially well treated. The soft ground will not prove any trouble and as mentioned he has form around the track. The step up in trip is a slight unknown but seeing as this race appears to have been in Sherwood's mind for some time you assume the stable think it will be no problem to him, perhaps even a positive. Kasbadali the selection in the closing race.

Thanks for reading, it looks a cracking weekend and as usual I'll be back on Sunday with the weekend review. 

Good luck!