Good afternoon folks
No luck with the tough Irish races today but a super winner in Regarding Ruth pays handsomely.
Just the one further selection on a tricky Friday is as below.
Back throughout the day as usual tomorrow for Saturday’s cracking sport.
2:25 Ayr
SAXON KING– 3/4 Pt Win @ 9/2 generally
At Sandown, the ability to stay and handle cut underfoot will probably be vital and this horse can prove he has both those attributes off bottom weight in the bet365 Esher Cup.
Trained by in-form Charles Hills, who sent out Wanees to win this 12 months ago and has made a superb start to this turf season, the son of Zoustar showed deep reserves to fend off the sustained challenge of Kingsley Pride in heavy ground over a mile at Haydock last October.
When it’s heavy at Haydock, the going gets really tough, but Saxon King was jumped out in front by Tom Marquand and would not let his rival past.
Kingsley Pride ran to a fair level on the all-weather on his next two starts while, in four outings last term, Saxon King made steady improvement.
His attitude looks good, he gets no less than 19lb from the top-weighted Local Dynasty and, interestingly, his dam Brevity was beaten only a length into third in the 2011 Atalanta Stakes over this course and distance on soft ground.
Local Dynasty has been re-routed from the Classic Trial (in which trainer Charlie Appleby runs Flying Honours) and was a course and distance winner on soft last September before landing a Listed race at Pontefract by a neck the following month.
He has probably earned his rating of 100 but looks worth opposing at the likely odds conceding so much weight to a progressive rival.
3:00 Sandown
MIGRATION– 1/2 Pt Each way @ 8/1 3 places generally
Recorded a very smart weight carrying performance when seeing off 21 rivals in the Lincoln at Doncaster (1m) on his re-appeareance 4 weeks ago. That effort suggests he can be a major player at Group level and he might have a fitness edge on some of these He is 2 from 2 on Heavy ground (today’s prevailing conditions at time of writing) and absolutely adores Sandown, recording form figures of 2,2,1,2 from 4 attempts to date!
Factor in the great record of the trainer/jockey combo, and the form of the Lincoln, I thought worth chancing he can upset the classier rivals in the contest.