Horse Racing Tips: Sword to cut down Chepstow opposition

A total of seven meetings take place on Thursday, with the action kicking off at Brighton for day two of their summer festival, followed by Nottingham and Chelmsford.

Sligo, Leopardstown, Chepstow and Sandown provide the evening action, with the Welsh border track hosting Week 3 of the Racing League.

18:00 Chepstow - Sword @ 7/2

The David O’Meara-trained SWORD steps up to a mile today after running over seven furlongs throughout this season.

He won three starts ago at Leicester and has put in some good performances since in big, competitive handicaps.

He was third on his most recent run, which came at Ascot on King George Day. This was a strong performance, and the form has already been franked, with Two Tribes winning the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood over the weekend.

He was arguably unlucky during that race, having been short of room while making his challenge and having to switch around for space. It perhaps didn’t affect the result, but he would have finished closer to the winner.

He has a win over further than today’s trip, so stamina will not be a concern, particularly at Chepstow, where there’s an uphill finish that does test stamina.

19:15 Sandown - Dangerman @ 15/8

The son of Cracksman, DANGERMAN returns to the scene of his maiden victory, where he bolted clear to win on his second handicap start.

Looking at his pedigree, you would have been hopeful that he would prove better than a mark of 75, but having shown little in novice company and completely flopping on handicap debut the previous month, punters were understandably sceptical.

Whether it was the drop back in trip or the fitting of first-time blinkers, he looked a completely different horse, skipping away from his rivals, who were unable to get close to him.

You’d expect him to kick on from that performance and, returning to the same venue today, he looks highly likely to follow up off 5lb higher, as he appeared to relish the uphill finish that the Surrey track offers.

The form looks solid too, with the third, Bulletin, finishing third again in a stronger handicap at Goodwood last week. The winner of that contest looked well-in as well, so the run deserves to be marked down as a good performance.

20:20 Sandown - Port Erin @ 4/1

The last race on the card at Sandown features a host of exposed milers, all with wins over the distance to their name.

The one that catches the eye is five-year-old PORT ERIN, who is slightly less exposed than the others on turf, with just six runs, two of which he has won.

His most recent success came on his penultimate start at Haydock, where he made all from the front.

If similar tactics are deployed here, he could well find himself winning again. Looking at the rest of the field, there doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of pace, and he looks the obvious one to lead.

Sandown isn’t known for a significant front-runner bias, but looking back at results, particularly from recent meetings, front-runners have been winning more often than might be expected.

He is only 2lb higher than for that previous win and has every chance of securing a second victory this season.

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