Fasten your seat belts for Sandown spectacular
I will be aboard Sanctuaire for Paul Nicholls and we are set to go head-to-head with Barry Geraghty and Nicky Henderson’s Sprinter Sacre.
This will not be for the faint-hearted, there will be no hiding place, but something has to give at some stage.
Between them these two horses are unbeaten in eight races over fences, five for Sprinter Sacre and three for Sanctuaire. As well as that the handicapper says my lad is only 3lbs behind Barry’s horse.
Sanctuaire has been terrific so far and produced a superb effort in a Grade 2 at Sandown in April, destroying the vastly more experienced Somersby by 17 lengths.
In theory that was a staggering display by a horse having only his third outing over fences. But I’m not getting carried away.
I believe Somserby, and others in that race, weren’t really at their best, at the end of a long campaign. That said, Sanctuaire could do no more than bounce out and, essentially, run them into the ground.
There’s only one way to ride him and that’s to let the horse do his own thing and bowl away in front. I don’t know what will happen in the second half of the race, but will be amazed if we are not running the show for the first half.
Sprinter Sacre is a smashing horse and Barry, who is a great judge, absolutely adores him. Among his five successes was a tremendous performance to land the Arkle at Cheltenham.
He is a serious machine and there is no doubt Sanctuaire has it all to do to beat him. But fasten your seat belts, we will be doing our best.
My afternoon begins on Sam Winner in a handicap hurdle. He has to carry top weight and it’s a big ask.
Sam has been off the track exactly a year, having got injured when falling three out over fences at Cheltenham.
He was travelling beautifully when departing and, prior to that, fell at Exeter, at the last, with a race at his mercy.
Today will be all about trying to give him a confidence-booster, before he returns to tackle fences again.
Hinterland, who ran far too free for his own good when getting beaten at Exeter, is on a retriving mission in a Grade 1 novice chase.
Inevitably he tired then, but on this occasion we will be employing far different tactics. I’ll be dropping him in and if we can beat Captain Conan then we’ll draw.
I end on Tempo de Cotte, a horse I know nothing about, in a handicap chase. The only thing I can say is that Paul never asks me to ride a horse at less than 10-4 and this fellow has 10-2.
Tomorrow, I head south to meet my Cork friends and have three decent chances, starting with Shamar in a maiden hurdle.
He’s an ex-French horse, who has run just once for Willie Mullins, disappointing at Gowran Park in February.
But his work is far better now and he should go close, in a race which seems to be all about quantity, rather than quality.
I think Blazing Tempo has a great chance in a Grade 2 over fences. She’s in really good form at home and arrives on the back of wins over flights at Kilbeggan and Gowran Park.
I finish on Tarla in a Grade 3 over fences for mares and am particularly looking forward to renewing acquaintances with her.
She was quite breathtaking when winning at Clonmel and I will obviously be hoping for more of the same.
I’ll be surprised if Willie fails to get among the winners at Navan today. Un Atout has been well schooled and will be hard to beat in a maiden hurdle.
The Paparazzi Kid, beaten at long odds-on when I rode him at Clonmel, will come on a ton for the outing and might cope with Moscow Mannon in another maiden hurdle.
And Marasonnien, who has schooled exceptionally well, can get it right at the first time of asking over fences in a beginners chase.
Willie has a powerful hand too at Punchestown tomorrow and the likes of Pride Ofthe Parish, Balnaslow, Mikael d’ Haguenet and Sizing Tennessee are all going to take whacking.
And, of course, he runs Gigginstown’s Sir Des Champs against two high-class opponents in Flemenstar and Rubi Light in the John Durkan.
I actually rode Sir Des Champs some work relatively recently and was greatly impressed. I’m a big fan of this horse.
I have the utmost respect for the other two, especially Flemenstar, but think Sir Des Champs will handle them.
