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1pt win Visinari in Diomed Stakes at 12/1

1pt win Orlaith in Scurry Stakes at 10/1

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You’ve got to go back to 1994 for the last three-year-old winner of the Group Three Diomed Stakes but few readers will hardly need reminding this is no ordinary year.

The enforced switch from Epsom to Newbury is a pretty pronounced one in terms of racecourse configuration – this weekend’s venue being far more of a galloping track and without question considerably flatter – while there’s a minor tweak to the distance too in that this edition will be contested over the bare mile, rather than a mile and 113 yards at the Surrey track.

King Of Comedy tops the antepost betting and John Gosden’s horse has to be respected in spite of his form tailing off towards the end of last season.

He’s won first time out in his first two campaigns and went close to winning the St Jams’s Palace before a perfectly creditable effort in the Juddmonte International at York when beaten two lengths into fourth behind Japan.

However, the last time we saw him he was in a really bad mood when barely getting down the start in time for the QEII and only beating a couple of horses home. He looks one to be taking on no matter the form of the yard.

The past two Diomed winners – namely Century Dream and 2019 scorer Zaaki - are both entered and the latter shouldn’t be judged too harshly on his low-key effort out in Hong Kong on his most recent public appearance.

He developed into a solid Group Two animal last season and wouldn’t be the first Sir Michael Stoute horse to find another couple of pounds aged five. He, too, goes well fresh, but the yard’s runners don’t appear exceptionally forward since the lockdown was lifted and he’s pretty readily passed over around the 9/2 mark.

Billesdon Brook usually takes a run or two to hit top gear so her comeback effort in the Snowdrop Stakes at Kempton 10 days ago has to go down as a really encouraging effort. It was important to see her bounce back from what could have been quite a taxing trip to the Breeders’ Cup on her final 2019 start.

She’s a Guineas winner and obviously still close to top class given the right conditions but whether she’ll be asked to back up so quickly is another matter and it could be more likely we see Tabarrak or Oh This Is Us from the Hannon yard this weekend.

There would be no such shock were last Friday’s runaway Newmarket winner Marie’s Diamond allowed to take his chance, but at the current prices it’s his Mark Johnston stablemate VISINARI (12/1, Sky Bet) who I can’t resist backing.

He divided opinion last year after some high-profile praise on the back of his striking July Course debut success at Newmarket and connections do admit to getting a couple of things wrong with him subsequently.

But if you strip all of that away then you’re left with a pretty promising colt from a yard in scintillating form since racing resumed.

The son of Dark Angel was forced into some hot two-year-old company after the impressive win first time out and found the trip on the sharp side in the July Stakes, before being blown away with the rest of the field by a thriving Pinatubo at Glorious Goodwood.

However, there was loads to like about the final run of the year when Visinari was beaten under two lengths by Molatham in the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster.

He tried to make all and wasn’t quite up to the job but was looked after by Frankie Dettori when was his chance had disappeared.

The form of that event is looking good this spring.

The winner hasn’t reappeared yet but runner-up Wichita almost won the Guineas and the third, Berlin Tango, looked well above-average when winning the Classic Trial at Kempton for Andrew Balding.

Eased a pound by the official handicapper after the final outing, Visinari is rated 105 heading into his three-year-old season and has more to find in this kind of company, but it looks a potentially canny piece of placing given he receives a chunky 12lb from the older rivals in the line-up.

And although it’s a long time since the Classic generation struck gold in this particular race, only three have tried in the past 10 years, the best finish of that trio being the Balding-trained Bye Bye Hong Kong, who was fourth last season.

Roger Varian is another man who hasn’t wasted any time in getting among the winners and he’s got an exciting new recruit in Sunday Sovereign who is engaged in Saturday’s Scurry Stakes at Sandown.

Owned by King Power Racing, he went to the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot with a big reputation after winning two of his first three starts for Paddy Twomey. That included a three-length maiden defeat of Arizona so we’re dealing with a very useful sort if he’s fit and ready to rumble.

There’s got to be a massive question mark over that, though, as he didn’t race again following his mid-pack finish as the 13/8 favourite in the Norfolk, where he endured a bit of a rough passage having seemed to hold every chance a furlong out.

Sandown clearly takes a bit of knowing and he’ll need to have matured quite a bit since we last saw him to make a winning start for his new handler at the weekend.

He’s no bigger than 7/2 but I much prefer the 10/1 (Coral) about another stable switcher ORLAITH, who starts out for Clive Cox having impressed on a number of occasions for Iain Jardine at two.

She was quite a sizeable daughter of Fastnet Rock last year and was kept pretty busy, winning two of her nine public appearances. They included a Listed race at Newbury in August when she just got the better of Al Raya, Simon Crisford’s filly who went on to win a Group Three in France and could reoppose on Saturday.

Orlaith had realistically had enough when a bit below her best at Newmarket when last seen but is entitled to have grown into her frame this time around and her new owners went to 185,000 guineas at the December sales.

The switch to sprint ace Cox suggests they aren’t solely focused on her future value as a potential broodmare and I really like the fact she’s battle-hardened and won her maiden at Ripon which tends to stand horses in good stead when it comes to dealing with a five furlong dash at Sandown.

She handles any ground too which looks a big plus in light of the mixed forecast and with an official mark of 98 she’s entitled to be right in there pitching even if just bringing the best of her two-year-old form to the table. With improvement expect, she could go close to winning it.

Posted at 1718 BST on 08/06/20

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