TODAY’s Brigadier Gerard card from Sandown features the best evening racing on show in the UK.
With the feature Group Three Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes set to go off at 7.12pm, it gives those making a dash from the office enough time to see some quality horses strut their stuff in the evening sunshine.
Undoubtably the main star on show is the John and Thady Gosden-trained Ombudsman, a winner of seven of his 10 races to date, amassing over £4.1 million in earnings.
He chased home Calandagan, Timeform’s highest-rated horse in Europe, in the Group One Champions Stakes at Ascot in October before running out a ready winner of the Group One Dubai Turf at Meydan when last seen in March.
He’s well clear of his five rivals on ratings and looks set to have his optimal fast ground conditions here, but it’s a nagging concern that he has been beaten on both his previous runs at Sandown.
He lost out to Almaqam in this race last year on his seasonal return, when he looked to be in need of the run, and then went down by a neck to Delacroix in a driving finish to the Eclipse.
With a string of big race targets through the summer, the feeling is now might not be the time he is at his peak.
If there is ever a time that GETHIN could beat Ombudsman, it might be now.
He arrives here on the back of a comfortable win in Listed company at Kempton in April, so may have the fitness edge over his main market rival.
Trainer Owen Burrows has always considered his grey to be of Group One class and he gets a handy seven pounds from Ombudsman here.
On ratings, that still leaves him with a bit to find, but I doubt we’ve seen the best of this horse yet and there should be improvement to come on only his sixth career start.
While he hasn’t run on rattling quick ground yet, Sandown have been watering well through this hot spell, so I don’t expect the going to be too fast for him.
At 5/2 with sponsors Star Sports, Gethin certainly appeals more than odds-on Ombudsman from a price point of view, and I’m happy to roll the dice with him.
In the previous race, the Listed Star Sports Heron Stakes (6.42pm), TALK OF NEW YORK leaps off the page.
He’s not a big price at 11/8 with Star Sports, but in three starts to date he has shown himself to be highly talented.
He blitzed his rivals by over five lengths in his maiden at Kempton in October, and then was immediately thrown into Listed company in Dubai, where he finished second behind last weekend’s German 2000 Guineas winner Title Holder.
Having been too keen in that contest, it was an impressive effort to run second, and he made amends last time out with a comfortable success at Newmarket when wearing a first-time hood.
The application of that headgear seemed to help him travel much sweeter, and if it has the same effect here, I can see him being very tough to beat.
With three other Godolphin runners in the line-up, the plan to be to set a strong gallop, which should play to his strengths.
I’ve a feeling Talk Of New York could develop into Charlie Appleby’s star three-year-old this season and, while Yazin looks a worthy rival, I can’t see him being beaten in this.
POINTERS TODAY
Talk Of New York 6.42pm Sandown
Gethin 7.12pm Sandown
