Sunny Sandown

There are three races on Thursday from Sandown to be found in the book where the ground will be riding soft, which may help whittle the short-list down a touch in two of the races – not many will have experienced the mud in the National Stakes.

Virtual, one of my Top Of The Form horses runs in one of the other races at Sandown –the Heron Stakes – where he meets Listed rivals which is more taxing than what he would have faced in a handicap last Saturday. He was pulled out that day because of fast ground so I’m hoping the soft ground won’t prove too much of a problem.
I’ll also be having a stab at the Yarmouth Jackpot today where there is a huge rollover in effect.

As the Epsom Derby meeting draws nearer, it was encouraging to hear yesterday that Tajaaweed worked very well at home which has triggered a further cut in his price – hope some of you helped yourself to the 14/1 I mentioned three weeks ago as he is now half that. Doesn’t mean he’ll win, but everything looks in place for a big run at decent odds and he would be an ideal trends winner.

Finally, we all spot horses that are so called ‘unlucky in running’ which in the long run can be dangerous to follow as they tend to continually remain unlucky, but one caught my eye on Saturday that I thought I’d pass on. The reason I’m mentioning it is because no-one else has – not in the Racing Post analysis section or any of the weekly racing papers that usually flag these types up.
The horse in question is Jedediah, who was eighth in the Silver Bowl at Haydock on Saturday. I won’t bore you all with his life story, but he is one to look at, more so in a big field where he can be buried at a big price rather than a shot price in a small field - may be the Britannia at Royal Ascot. Just a hunch.