Connections of Mitbaahy are confident that their charge can cause something of an upset to land one of the feature races on Sandown's card on Saturday, the Listed Scurry Stakes (2.50pm).
Sprint king Clive Cox appears to hold the ace hand going into the race with Caturra priced at 5/4 for the victory, while Roger Varian's Mitbaahy is on offer at 9/2 to land the prize.
Cox looking to emulate Varian
Varian was responsible for the last winner to defy a penalty in the Scurry Stakes, with Morawij back in 2013, but he will be determined to stop Cox from following suit in the six-runner sprint with Caturra.
The son of Profitable, who incidentally won the King's Stand Stakes for Cox in 2016, was twice placed at this level last year although jockey David Egan believes that Mitbaahy is now a stronger proposition as a three-year-old, and he goes into the Scurry Stakes on the back of an impressive win at Hamilton.
Racing off level weights in a conditions event that day, Mitbaahy had plenty to find on ratings, being rated 9lb lower than Gis A Sub, but the hot favourite could only finish third as the Varian runner scored by a length and a half from Edward Cornelius.
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Egan, who rode Mitbaahy to be second on his seasonal return at Nottingham, said: "Mitbaahy has done very well from two to three and is a horse I like a lot.
Egan positive on chances
"I've ridden him a lot in his homework and he won very well at Hamilton last time. He had a bit to do with the favourite on ratings that day but really stayed on quite well up the hill."
He added: "Obviously, this is a step back up in class to a Listed race in which he was twice placed last year but he's a more mature horse this year and I expect him to be very competitive looking at the race."
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