Horse Racing Tips: Spiritual can find inner peace at Sandown

A busy Saturday is in store in Britain and Ireland and the highest-quality action is at Sandown, with the ITV cameras in town for four live races at the Esher track.

The Solario Stakes is the feature at Sandown and our expert fancies one in that plus two others on the undercard. 

14:25 Sandown - Spiritual @ 11/2

I’m going to give Spiritual a pass for her heavy defeat in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild last time and grant her another chance in the Atalanta Stakes at Sandown.

That wasn’t the first time the John and Thady Gosden-trained filly has disappointed at Deauville and she’s never been in love with fast ground. The Atalanta Stakes is a drop in class for Spiritual and she returns to a course and distance she won over last term.

That victory came on soft going, so she’ll welcome the significant rain that hit the south in the lead up to this race, and she holds the standout piece of form in this field by dint of her runaway victory in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes two starts back.

That was an exceptional effort on the clock and a reproduction of that should be good enough in this company.

15:00 Sandown - Brioni @ 18/1

Brioni looks a big price in the following 1m2f handicap at Sandown with Alan King enlisting the services of top jockey Rossa Ryan to take the reins.

The son of Cloth Of Stars ran okay when ninth in the John Smith’s Cup last time, not being helped by being squeezed out at a key stage.

This race lacks the depth of the John Smith’s Cup and Brioni, who didn’t match his best form on his previous effort at York either, should be well suited by this test.

He was an impressive four-length winner the previous time he encountered soft ground at Ascot last year and is interesting returned to these conditions, while his course-and-distance victory two starts ago cemented his liking for a stiff 1m2f around a right-handed track.

That form is working out well, with two victories for the runner-up and one for the fourth and fifth since.

15:35 Sandown - He’s Waliim @ 8/1

Publish rates a favourite to oppose at a short price in Sandown’s feature Solario Stakes, albeit his trainers’ excellent record in the race makes him a respected contender.

The Gosden runner’s form is yet to work out particularly well and he is held by a few of these rivals on adjusted Racing Post Ratings. He’s Waliim is one of those and appeals at much bigger odds for James Tate.

He’s Waliim was a wildly impressive winner on his debut at Beverley earlier this month, readily pulling clear of a 77-rated rival who was getting 5lb and producing some speedy late sectionals.

This slower surface asks another question of He’s Waliim, but he’s by Too Darn Hot (a Solario winner in 2018) and the top sire has a host of smart soft-ground performers among his progeny. He is open to untold improvement on his second start and looks an outstanding prospect.

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