Horse Racing Tips: Solness’ connections will be celebrating at Sandown

There’s an abundance of racing action across both codes to look forward to on Saturday, as the National Hunt season comes to an end and the Flat begins to take over. Sandown brings down the curtain on the Jumps season and the big races include the bet365 Gold Cup and the Celebration Chase, which Jonbon will attempt to win for a third time.

We have Group action on the Flat in Ireland and another six meetings throughout the day. Here are three of our strongest fancies across the day and they include a Joseph O’Brien-trained Irish raider who boasts a high level of form, at Sandown.

14:55 Sandown - Solness @ 4/1

Jonbon is taking aim at a third win in this race, having claimed victory in 2023 and 2024, but he doesn’t quite have the pace he once did and now looks very opposable over this trip. Joseph O’Brien sends over the very talented SOLNESS, who looks on course for a big run.

The eight-year-old brings a high level of form to the table and has a particularly good record in Grade 1 chases over 2m1f at Leopardstown.

Winning back-to-back races at the top level last season, he comfortably got the better of some very useful horses, including Marine Nationale and Gaelic Warrior.

This campaign hasn’t been quite as successful but he did manage to defend his crown in the Paddy's Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown in December. Connections skipped Cheltenham this year and they were rewarded with an excellent run in the Melling Chase.

O’Brien’s gelding was a very valiant second that day, going down by only a neck, and he has more than enough form in the book to suggest he can win this Grade 1 contest.

15:05 Navan - Scandinavia @ 8/11

It’s usually not easy for three-year-olds to compete with the older horses in the staying division but Aidan O’Brien’s SCANDINAVIA managed to do just that. This impeccably bred son of Justify improved throughout the season and is going to be a major player in the cups.

Getting his first taste of Group 1 success at Goodwood in the summer, he showed a terrific attitude to get the better of stablemate Illinois on that occasion. That was an excellent performance from the three-year-old and there should be more to come this year.

He was last seen winning the St Leger at Doncaster and he had to knuckle down in order to come out on top. Ryan Moore is on board, which is an obvious positive, and it would be no surprise to see him take the same route as Yeats and Kyprios.

15:30 Sandown - Montregard @ 9/2

Betfred are offering four places instead of the normal three for the bet365 Gold Cup and the Tom Lacey-trained MONTREGARD should be more than capable of filling one of them.

The trainer knows what he’s doing when it comes to staying handicap chasers and further progress can’t be ruled out from this well-bred eight-year-old.

He is a half-brother to the multiple Grade 1-winning chaser Protektorat and was a very comfortable winner of a decent race at Ascot on his most recent start.

It’s noted that the handicapper didn’t overreact to that success and he has effectively gone up only 4lb, as he ran from out of the handicap last time. There is a question to be answered with regards to stamina but he certainly looks worth the try.

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