John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday.
Tambora looks well treated for handicap debut
Julie Wood’s colours were carried into a fine fifth in last Saturday’s Derby by the 100/1 maiden Alderman, and the same owner’s Tambora looks set for a big run making his handicap debut at Sandown (15:58), he too ridden by Pat Dobbs for Richard Hannon.
Tambora has done all his racing so far at Newbury, improving with each run as he has stepped up in trip. The two maidens that he has contested there this year have worked out particularly well. Reappearing in a huge field over a mile in April, Tambora wasn’t well drawn and looked as though the run would do him good but showed plenty of improvement from his sole start at two, finishing sixth behind Exclusive Code. While the winner hasn’t been out since, the next three home all won their next starts.
Stepped up to a mile and a quarter the following month, Tambora duly progressed with that run under his belt, finishing sixth again behind some useful colts, with all three horses from that race who have run since being successful next time out. A mark that allows Tambora to make his handicap debut in a class 4 contest therefore could be lenient, and he’s 3 lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Altareq the pick of Horses In Focus in York feature
York’s Sky Bet The World’s Gone Football Handicap (16:10) looks wide open, with the majority of the 16-runner field also holding an entry in next month’s John Smith’s Cup over the same course and distance, so it’s definitely a race to watch with that contest in mind.
But a first prize of around £36,000 makes this a good race in its own right, with a trio who all earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag last time – Altareq, Antipodes and Per Contra – looking the three to concentrate on. Unexposed four-year-old Antipodes is going for a hat-trick and stepping up from a mile for the first time, while Per Contra went close over course and distance at the Ebor meeting last summer.
Preference, though, is for Altareq who gets in off bottom weight for Jim Goldie, with apprentice Lauren Young’s claim reducing his weight further to just 8-2. Formerly with John & Thady Gosden, Altareq has run two promising races under Young since returning from twelve months off, running an eye-catching third over course and distance at the Dante meeting and then finishing with running left in a tactical race back at a mile when third again behind the smart Diego Ventura at Hamilton last time. Heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, Altareq is taken to open his account before a possible John Smith’s Cup bid.
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