Our form expert has two tips for Friday's ITV Racing at Sandown featuring the Group 2 bet365 Mile.
The Verdict: Friday April 25
1pt win Arabian Crown in 2.25 Sandown at 7/1 (General)
1pt win Haatem in 3.00 Sandown at 7/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
Crown can be king for Appleby
Friday’s excellent Flat card at Sandown should throw up several clues for the season ahead and I’m looking forward to seeing the three-year-olds in action.
Windlord is the form pick in the bet365 Classic Trial and it will be interesting to see what he does running over 10 furlongs for the first time, while Star Of Light was one of those midwinter all-weather debutants for John Gosden that you just can’t wait to see on turf.
She runs in the fillies’ novice at 4.10 and her trainers will be hoping she does an Emily Upjohn ahead of bigger challenges, but it looks another informative heat with Godolphin’s Winter’s Song in there for Charlie Appleby.
It looks a big day for Appleby, whose team are beginning to roll along nicely now after four winners at the Craven Meeting and Military Order’s victory in the Listed Magnolia Stakes at Kempton on Easter Monday.
Two of his older middle-distance big guns run in the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes and while the ground looks a bit too quick for William Buick’s mount, Ancient Wisdom, there’s a good chance everything pans out nicely for stablemate ARABIAN CROWN.
He looked like he was going to be a major force as a three-year-old when bolting up in the Classic Trial at this meeting last year, when he made all for a comfortable success, only for a setback in the build-up to the Derby to rule him out of Epsom and then the rest of the season.
However, he returned out in Meydan on March 1 with a very encouraging run behind another stablemate in Silver Knott in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold, where he finished fourth beaten five lengths (watch on YouTube below, he's in the Godolphin white cap).
That race was over a mile and half and he was understandably fresh and keen, while he was caught wide throughout and did well to finish as close as he did considering the way the race developed.
I think he’ll enjoy dropping to 10 furlongs here and there’s a chance he could be at a positional advantage if Ryan Moore goes to the front and tries to dictate, something that looks likely given the lack of pace pressure on paper and considering what he did in the Classic Trial 12 months ago.
Appleby says he’s come forward from Meydan, which might explain the nibbles of support after he was chalked up the outsider of the field, but he remains a bet at 7/1 in what looks a tight race where plenty of his rivals might well need the run.
The Verdict: Back ARABIAN CROWN in the 2.25 Sandown
Hannon to land Mile high with Haatem
Godolphin could strike in the bet365 Esher Cup Handicap, as well, with John & Thady Gosden’s Fifth Column, a horse who won well at Kempton from a fancied Ed Walker-trained newcomer after being gelded earlier in the month.
The market has found him and he’s the favourite now, but I’ll leave the race alone as I think he’s the one to beat but the ship has sailed price-wise.
The best race on the card could well be the Group 2 bet365 Mile and if match sharpness is the defining factor here then Dancing Gemini will probably have followed up his Doncaster Mile success with another win.
He might do, but this is much tougher and there’s some genuine Group 1 horses in there including HAATEM who returns from 307 days off the track.
You can’t help but admire this horse’s tenacity, on show several times last season including when narrowly going down to stablemate Rosallion in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh and when he won the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot under a penalty.
Those bits of form give him a good chance here and the setback that ruled him out of the second half of last season was said to be nothing serious, while I think Richard Hannon will have him cherry ripe for this.
He’s going to have to do a bit of juggling to keep Haatem apart from Rosallion this season, but taking in this Group 2 gives him an opportunity to get a win on the board and he hit the ground running last season, easily landing the Craven on his reappearance before his commendable third in the 2000 Guineas.
The Hannon stable used to farm this race and while he hasn’t had the ammunition to target the contest in recent years, he has this season, and Haatem is a good horse to have on your side if it turns into a scrap.
The Verdict: Back HAATEM in the 3.00 Sandown
Preview posted at 1500 BST on 24/04/25
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