Andrew McLaren takes an early look at Saturday's racing with bets over the jumps at Sandown and on the Flat at Haydock.
Weekend View: Saturday April 26
1pt win Ramazan in the 2.40 Haydock at 14/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair)
1pt win Transmission in the 3.35 Sandown at 16/1 (Sky Bet)
The trainers’ championship is going down to wire with around £52k separating Dan Skelton and Willie Mullins at the time of writing and over £670k up for grabs at Sandown on Saturday.
That makes things a bit trickier than usual from an antepost punting perspective with both trainers understandably throwing as many darts as possible in an attempt to amass as much prize money as they can, leaving many horses with multiple entries across the card and running plans uncertain.
The key horse in Saturday’s big handicap – the bet365 Gold Cup – is Grangeclare West, trained by, you guessed it, Willie Mullins. He split Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File in the Irish Gold Cup earlier in the season and showed that was no fluke when producing a remarkable late surge to finish third in the Grand National after a shuddering mistake at the last, looking unlucky not to win in the end.
He’s got a lofty rating of 168 now and he’ll force a good chunk of the field to race from out of the handicap should he turn up. He’s not certain to though - a three week turnaround is quick enough after such a big effort by a horse who has had his injury issues in the past, and his Punchestown Gold Cup entry could prove more tempting for connections given his trainer has plenty of other bullets to fire at this race.
Should he not run here, the makeup of this race would change significantly, and I would be sweet on the chances of TRANSMISSION. His staying on second to Haiti Couleurs at Cheltenham in December reads rather well now given that horse won the Irish Grand National off an 11lb higher mark on Monday and although he was beaten further by him when fifth in the National Hunt Chase at the Festival, I thought he shaped really well there coming from off the pace in a race which wasn’t run at a true gallop.
That effort proved he has the stamina reserves for this sort of test and he has winning form on good ground too, so conditions will hold no fears, and I’m expecting him to run a big race if he’s allowed to compete off his real mark. There is obvious risk attached – if Grangeclare West runs he will be 9lb out of the handicap – but at 16/1 I’m willing to take that risk as I think he’ll be quite a bit shorter in the betting should the current top-weight not be declared on Thursday morning.
The Oaksey Chase was the closest I came to another bet at Sandown as I think Pic D'Orhy can serve it up to whatever Mullins decides to throw at him in this race. He's only raced at Sandown over fences once - back in the 2022 Scilly Isles Novices' Chase when he was beaten by L'Homme Presse - but his style of racing should be ideally suited by this track. An enthusiastic front runner who jumps for fun, he has a terrific record on right-handed tracks and I think he'll take some pegging back on this ground if getting into his usual rhythm under Harry Cobden.
I was hoping for a bit bigger than the 3/1 currently on offer though, and can happily leave him alone at this stage.
There’s some good Flat action on the Saturday ITV schedule too, and I can’t resist backing Richard Fahey’s RAMAZAN at 14/1 in the Try Unibet's New Same Race Multis Handicap at Haydock having dropped to a rating below 100 for the first time since winning a Racing League handicap off 98 at Chepstow in August 2023.
He was easy to back on his comeback at Musselburgh in a race won by his stablemate, Our Havana, and he looked in need of the run there as he faded into sixth, but that will have blown the cobwebs away and the handicapper has started to relent now, dropping him 3lb on the back of that effort to a mark of 99 which is lower than when he was just touched off in last year's Victoria Cup at Ascot (off 105) and Great St Wilfrid at Ripon (103).
He's two from three at Haydock, with his only defeat here coming in the Group 3 John Of Gaunt Stakes, so we know he likes the track, and any rain that hits the course later in the week (there is a bit forecast) will do his chances no harm.
He was winless last season but ran some huge races in defeat, and there is surely a good race with his name on it this year from this reduced mark, with plenty reason to believe Saturday could be the day back at a track he likes and with a run under his belt.
Preview posted at 1640 BST on 22/04/2025
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