The horse racing broadcaster has five selections on offer for Saturday’s racing as weather threatens the cards at Sandown and Wincanton.
Given the weather forecast, turf racing will be running the gauntlet on Saturday, with ITV currently scheduled to show seven races split between Sandown and Wincanton, both subject to 08:00 inspections.
After the removal of the Tolworth from this card, the focus falls on the Veterans, with the valuable Series Final likely having been a long-term target for LE MILOS / (15:05 Sandown). He has won at the track and ran well for a long way in the Premier Chase at Kelso in 2024 before his stamina gave out over 3m 4f. That run was off 149, so his current mark of 140 is still workable—not least because he won off it as recently as May at Fakenham. Dan Skelton is clearly targeting races with big pots this time around in his attempt to gain an insurmountable lead in the Trainers’ title, with the Mullins juggernaut still not in full flow.
The Mares’ Hurdle looks at the mercy of Jubilee Alpha, who would be much worse at the weights with her rivals were this to be a handicap. She has already won twice at this level, but she does need riding a certain way and doesn’t always deliver what looks likely. This has partly been due to her jumping in the closing stages, where, because of the hold-up tactics that need to be adopted to get her to settle, she often needs to be making ground at that point, so any errors can be costly. Most of her other rivals are up against it class-wise, but the exception could be THAT’LL DO MOSS / (14:25 Sandown), who actually has a Grade 1 placing to her name. She undoubtedly has two ways of running and made little show on her return at Kempton, but has proven she can get up the Sandown hill when narrowly beaten in the Grade 2 Jane Seymour last season. If Jubilee Alpha is too keen or once again makes errors, That’ll Do Moss can be the one to capitalise.
In the last at Sandown, ALL IN YOU / (15:35 Sandown) can reverse form with Dance And Glance from Ascot, having been set a fair bit to do that day. Bought out of the David Maxwell dispersal sale, he ran on strongly that day, and with a decent gallop all but assured via the keen-running Continuance, he should have the race run to suit. The Greatrex horses remain in really good heart (11/36, A/E 1.38 in the last month), as evidenced by Herakles Westwood’s victory at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
Over at Wincanton, SEA WARRIOR / (14:05 Wincanton) can gain compensation for an unfortunate handicap debut when clipping heels and coming down at halfway. The ‘F’ against his name had nothing to do with his jumping, and he looked to need the race after an absence the time before at Exeter. He is open to more progress than most of these and looks a leading chance.
I have to declare a vested interest in CRUDEN / (14:40 Wincanton), who is trained by a friend in Dan Horsford. Helping in some small way to get him established has been a really good insight into the patience required to build up a group of horses that can be competitive not just in the short but the medium term. Cruden was purchased out of the James Ewart dispersal and ran well at a big price on his debut for the stable at Wolverhampton. His mark looks fair, and he handles fast ground, so if that progress can be transferred to the jumping sphere, he can prove well handicapped. If this does fall to the weather, he has got a backup plan on the Flat at Kempton on Wednesday.
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