Owner and pro punter Murt Khan was on the mark yesterday and has two tips for the Randox Handicap at Sandown this afternoon.
Recommended Bets: Breaking It Down
1pt win Love Dreams in 3.15 Sandown at 5/1
0.5pt win Akhlaaq in 3.15 Sandown at 8/1
It was hard not to be impressed by Battered's latest effort at York. Ridden with confidence by Ryan Moore that day he powered clear in the closing stages and he could easily defy an 8lb rise in the weights today. However, he faces stiffer opposition and will be racing on much faster ground, so for me 7/4 is about the right price.
Black Trilby is a consistent time and looks open to further improvement. He ran in a first-time hood last time due to his keen-going nature. He's likely to run his race but may find one or two too good today.
AKHLAAQ was a 400,000-guineas yearling and looks the part. He won in taking fashion on his debut at Salisbury having run green and powering up the hill late to snatch victory. Next time up at Doncaster he ran a solid race but also may have found the ground a bit too slow.
Being such a scopey and strong sort I think he's the type to improve from two to three and on his seasonal debut he ran at Newmarket finishing a respectable fourth but seemed a bit unbalanced when hitting the dip. Today's conditions should be perfect for him and he should go well.
LOVE DREAMS was a horse I was really taken with last year. His first start at Hamilton was very impressive, he was sharp and professional and looked a horse to follow. He duly obliged next time out at Pontefract when heavily supported near the off. In similar fashion to AKHLAAQ he's the type to improve with time and there's every reason to thing he will be better as a three year old.
With nearly a year off he must've had some kind of issue and it would be encouraging to see positive signs in the market for the horse. A good sign for his followers is Mark Johnston had a treble yesterday at Sandown and I can see this good-looking son of Dream Ahead adding to that tally for the Middleham-based trainer.
Follow Murt on Twitter @purple_n_gold1
Posted at 0810 BST on 17/06/17.
Breaking It Down P&L:
June +4.1pts
May +30pts