There is good-quality action from Sandown on Sunday. Keith Melrose from the Racing Post takes you through his best bets on the card.
1.05 Sandown - Blow Your Wad @ 3/1
2.15 Sandown - In The Air @ 5/2
3.25 Sandown - Larry @ 7/2
There are some useful prospects in the field for the 2m4f novices' handicap chase. Among them are two Grade 2 winners over hurdles, Rock My Way and Henri The Second.
There is a good chance they are the best long-term prospects in the field. In the here and now, the fitness edge that BLOW YOUR WAD has could prove decisive.
This horse is clearly quite well regarded himself. He ran in two Grade 1s as a novice hurdler, including the Tolworth Hurdle here in January.
He reverted to handicaps for his seasonal reappearance, in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow, which his connections have been known to target with Tea Clipper.
Blow Your Wad finished second in that race and is therefore both fit and in good order as he starts out on his chasing career.
From a mark 2lb higher than at Chepstow, Blow Your Wad is weighted to go well and can use his fitness to best advantage up Sandown's stiff finish.
The 1m7½f handicap chase is similarly competitive in spite of a relatively small field size. Xcitations would have been high on the shortlist after his encouraging return to action, but for the presence of two or three promising novices.
Jetronic will be popular after his chasing debut at Cheltenham, but I prefer IN THE AIR for the Gary Moore team.
He took a big step up on his own chasing debut at Huntingdon, coming a long way clear of the rest with another novice who looks bound for better things.
In The Air has been put up just 3lb, which is far from penal, and he also looked more tractable that day than Jetronic had been at Cheltenham.
While Sandown can reward forcing tactics, especially around 2m over fences, it can punish those coming to the end of their tether. In The Air has the right blend of speed and ability to see him home in front.
Good Boy Bobby often saves his best for his reappearance run, so I am wary of backing him to follow up what was a fortunate win anyway when he runs in the feature veterans' handicap chase.
Two of the other six finished behind Good Boy Bobby last time, two more are making their reappearances. Lord Du Mesnil usually takes a couple of runs to get going, while Elegant Escape rarely gets going at all these days.
Court Master is a little bit like Good Boy Bobby, so I am cautious about him building on a promising recent run at Cheltenham.
That leaves LARRY, who has the rare double of being both fit and fresh. He is fit because he was seemingly aimed at last week's feature handicap chase at Ascot, a race he has won before.
And he is fresh because he didn't get to run at Ascot, owing to veterinary advice at the start.
Larry is a relative newcomer to veterans' chases, he has spent his career in top handicaps.
Therefore, he will not be overfaced by his rivals here and, quite by accident, finds himself cherry-ripe on a day when few of his ageing rivals will be.
1.05 Sandown - Blow Your Wad @ 3/1
2.15 Sandown - In The Air @ 5/2
3.25 Sandown - Larry @ 7/2
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
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