Sandown Park review, full results and video replays | Town And Country stars

Keane scores Scurry thriller

Town And Country (5/2) recorded a last gasp success in the BetMGM Scurry Stakes to provide Colin Keane with his first success at Sandown on his first attempt.

For much of the closing stages of the listed contest it looked as though Keane would suffer a typical Sandown reverse, Town And Country was all dressed up with nowhere to go on the rail with no room in front behind Hold A Dream and Star Of Mehmas and held in by one on the outside.

The room did eventually come and Town And Country, trained by Henry de Bromhead, ate up the ground as the climb to the line found out Star Of Mehmas. On her far side was Hold A Dream and the pair were hard to separate with the naked eye and even the judge's announcement of the result of the photo took some time with the winning distances just a short-head and a neck.

It was just a second career win for Town And Country but Keane believes there's more to come, telling Racing TV: "She was keen. Billy [Lee] told me at home she can be keen but I didn't think she'd be that bad and she ended up bringing us into a couple of pockets.

"To be fair to her she only got out in the last half furlong so she's done well to win."

Keane believes there's more to come from Town And Country and expects her to be able to win at Group level as she progresses, adding: "I think maybe over here, when she gets used to proper sprinting, will actually suit her, the quicker they go the better where she can relax and I think we'll really see the best of her."

Glad tidings

Gladius (6/4 favourite) made it two wins from three starts when carrying (joint) top weight to victory in the Download The BetMGM App Handicap.

Oisin Murphy always looked comfortable racing one off the rail and in behind the pace aboard Gladius. He bided his time in the straight before asking the Night Of Thunder colt, who was turned over at 1/4 last time, to go and win his race which he duly did with the minimum of fuss, scoring by a length and three quarters.

Murphy said: "He won on debut and he did lots of nice things. He was beaten the other day under a penalty, the ground was probably too fast. I thought it was genuinely good today; it was definitely not good, good-to-firm yesterday, we had one last night and the grass was quite long. Andrew Cooper, I would imagine, is very surprised with the amount of non-runners [over 20] but sometimes it goes like that.

"He's likeable and hopefully he'll go the right way. He did some really nice work at home before his debut and we felt he'd win on debut. He's a horse who, because he was beaten the other day and quite comprehensively beaten, was going into this race under the radar."

The winner was trained by Andrew Balding, also on the mark in the opener at York, who has his string in good form heading into Royal Ascot and Murphy was asked what horses he was particularly looking forward to next week.

"Wathnan are going to be very strong and they've bought some of Andrew's better two-year-olds but hopefully I'll have some decent rides in the other races. Maybe Asfoora, she runs on Tuesday, and Fox Legacy in the Hunt Cup, he's not a talking horse but he felt like a progressive type when he won at Newmarket; a mile is maybe on the sharp side for him but I won the race last year and the horse, for me, has a similar profile."

Dance storms home

Murphy and Balding repeated the feat when combing with Dance In The Storm (5/2 joint-favourite) in the seven furlong handicap.

Held-up last of the five runners, Murphy pulled the filly out towards the centre of the track approaching the two pole and gradually made up the ground before asking Dance In The Storm to quicken away as she hit the front.

Quicken she did as Dance In The Storm soon showed her rivals a clean pair of heels, scoring in impressive fashion by three lengths.

Dance In The Storm was racing for just the fourth time having dipped her toe into listed waters last time and a return to pattern company could soon be on the cards.

Murphy said: "Her siblings are stakes class and her dam is a real producer and she's by Night Of Thunder. As a type she's done very well from spring time until now.

"She's won off 80 but they're older horses, albeit a small field, and if she can progress over the next few races maybe Andrew and Jeff and David can think of a listed race or something. With the hood on [she settled], sometimes it can have too much of an effect, they go too sleepy, but it suited really well.

"We'll try and go seven again, maybe, in handicaps and then maybe a mile as she goes up in grade, it just suits her and she's learning."

Murphy and Balding had to settle for second in division two of the fillies' handicap as Take A Breath (9/4, Tom Marquand and William Haggas) readily overhauled their front-running Star Of Dubai. Division one went the way of Chiringita (10/3) for Jamie Spencer and David Simcock.

Great expectations

Only five went to post for the Read Meg Nicholls' Blog At betmgm.co.uk Handicap with half a dozen of the declared runners taken out but the mile contest was not without drama.

Classic missed the break and soon after Samuel Colt stumbled and went down on his nose, dropping back to last. It wasn't plain sailing in the closing stages either with 11/8 favourite Classic held in by the eventual winner Urban Lion (9/4) but it's hard to be dogmatic about whether it materially affected the result with Jack Channon's charge galloping on strongly to win by two lengths.

Winning rider Eddie Greatrex said: "Obviously I had options from my draw - I was five of five in the end - and I was able just to take a nice tow.

"He's a horse that takes a while to get going, a big rangy type, so I angled out, I saw Ryan [Moore, on Classic] went inside and I might get a couple of days [suspension], I think I made it a little bit tight late on, but he was wandering around, he's still a little bit green.

"In my mind, Charlie [Bishop] on Eve's [Johnson Houghton] horse [Balmacara] was always going to come back to us three so I think Ryan was down in that slot and I just wanted a fair shake of it."

Urban Lion holds an entry in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot next week and Greatrex believes he's an intended runner and was asked if he felt Urban Lion had a chance.

"A good one," he replied. "He's a horse that's improving all the time and if he steps forward again he'll be bang there."

Wave Rider coasts home

The Darley British EBF Maiden Stakes had a prize fund of £40,000 with over half of that going to the winner. It looked a decent race on paper and that may prove to be the case irrespective of how the easy winner Wave Rider (9/4 favourite) fares in the future.

Last seen finishing a three length sixth in the London Gold Cup off a mark of 83, Wave Rider settled well for Trevor Whelan in the first half of midfield before making his ground easily and quickening to win by a cosy three length margin from Respond and Hinchinbrooke who were both having their third starts.

Whelan said if the Harry Charlton trained winner: "He gave me a lovely feel today. He's finally growing up. He was over-racing a little bit in his races. The ground was too quick for him the last day at Newbury. He travelled well today, settled well and put it to bed pretty easy.

"It is fast ground and he felt it down the back but it's always easier when you're rising up the hill and it's a bit more forgiving and I'd plenty of horse underneath me as well; he wouldn't want fast ground anyway.

"He's a smart horse, the boss and the lads have done a good job. He was very keen last year but he's really settled into himself now so hopefully he'll progress. Hopefully it turns out to be a smart race but he's done it very easy, he just had a little look when he got to the front, he was doing it ever so easily."

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