This weekend’s racing is all about the Eclipse at Sandown and we have Friday tips from the Esher venue as well as up north from Doncaster and Beverley. .Sandown has built a meeting around the Eclipse, the first major race of full-on summer in the British calendar, which rather stands in its shadow but it does mean we get a Friday chock full of Listed races and high-class handicaps.
Friday Tips: Equilateral (3.05 Sandown)
The five-furlong course at Sandown is a straight track which runs separately to the main course. It is stiff and known for its trouble in running and dramatic late changes. Admittedly, a six-runner field for this high-quality handicap largely takes away the jeopardy of ending up behind a wall of horses, although stranger things have definitely happened in sprints.
That it is a handicap makes things much easier for topweight and father of the house, EQUILATERAL (3.05). This nine-year-old is actually three from three in handicaps, having spent a career in higher grades, including nine runs in Group 1s.
The last time we saw Equilateral in a handicap, he won a big-field race at York’s Ebor meeting. He has run at Sandown just once, when down the field in a Group 3 at this meeting a couple of years back. He has plenty of form at similar tracks though and ought to find this easier than the Group and Listed races he has contested in the last 10 months.
Friday TIps: Mon Na Slieve (3.50 Doncaster)
Three-year-olds stepping into open-age company is a well-worn tactic for finding handicap winners. It would often find you the winner of races like the Eclipse, too, as that is an early opportunity for the generations to clash and as time goes on the three-year-olds increasingly hold sway. Even at sprint trips, which according to the weight-for-age scale are starting to narrow when it comes to younger horses versus the rest, you are better siding with three-year-olds in the general case.
Here is a good example. Two three-year-olds run in this race: Kylian, who arguably should be at Sandown given he won well there as a two-year-old, and MON NA SLIEVE (3.50). The second of the two is the more interesting. Mon Na Slieve ran in the Palace of Holyroodhouse at Royal Ascot last time. He was seventh, but the field was 28-strong and he was beaten less than three lengths. He also picked his way through in a similar manner to runner-up Blue Storm, only he was asked a furlong later and duly ran out of time to finish closer. Off the same mark, in much calmer waters, he is worth siding with to beat his older rivals.
Friday Tips: Jill’s Jungle (6.00 Beverley)
Up at Beverley, the five-furlong course is known for its draw bias. You do not want to be too high, and although that applies most strongly when the field is near its limit of 17, those drawn widest in this 11-runner field have their work cut out. JILL’S JUNGLE (6.00) is in stall seven, which is just low enough so long as rider Joanna Mason is alert.
This gelding is worth an interest on his handicap debut, as he shaped pretty well in a race at Hamilton over a year ago. The three horses in front of him that day have all improved markedly since. He hasn’t, because he has run only once, after an 11-month break. Jill’s Jungle has been given a generous mark based on his Hamilton run, not to mention his debut second at Southwell. If the market speaks in his favour, he can be expected to make a step up.
By Rob Eddy
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