7th July 2012
Sandown Betting: Cowell's Spirit Quartz to charge home in Sandown sprint
2.05 Sandown: Coral Charge (The Sprint Stakes) (Group 3) (5f)
13 runners line up for the Coral Charge which is usually known as The Sprint Stakes, bookmakers Coral are sponsoring the two-day Eclipse meeting and they have Night Carnation as their 9/2 market leader.
The 4yo filly trained by Andrew Balding won this race in 2011 but has failed to get her head in front since that day and the main reason has been the cut in the ground, she has not won on anything worse than good ground and the rain today would not have helped her chances. However she does have a good draw in stall 4 and was not disgraced when sixth in the King Stand at Ascot last time out.
Also drawn low is Spirit Quartz trained by sprint specialist Robert Cowell, he has recently been sold and bought by Qatar Racing who are pumping plenty of money into the British racing scene and they could have a decent sprinter on their hands here. He was 5th in the King Stand and prior to that second in a listed contest at Haydock. The trainer thinks a lot of this one and the only problem may be if tries to get cover early on he will have to go through plenty of traffic on the rails.
One that wont be struggling with a passage is Judge ’N’ Jury who will no doubt blast out from the stalls and attempt to make all from box 3. The 8yo has been as good as ever this season and was a touch unlucky in Ireland last time when wandering off a true line and going down by half a length to Definightly. He won’t mind the softening of the ground as he goes on all sorts of conditions. The Hannon team run Elnawin who won twice last summer and looked like he was returning to form at Windsor last time when second to Markab over 6f, he drops back in trip here and may have to paly a minor role in this company.
Elusivity was progressive last season and hasn’t quite recaptured his form just yet as a 4yo, Brian Meehan’s gelding was only 11th in the Wokingham and needs to find a couple of lengths to get involved here but does have the plum draw next to the far rail. We have two 3yo’s in the race and both have a squeak on their best form. The filly Caledonia Lady is ridden by Hayley Turner and was a decent 7th in the King Stand while Free Zone was second here to Pearl Secret and has progressed well this term.
A terrific sprint contest and it does look like all the action will be from those drawn low, Judge ‘N’ Jury will probably lead these a long way and set the race up for the finishers Spirit Quartz and Night Carnation. My fancy is that Spirit Quartz will prove the stronger on this occasion and wouldn’t be surprised if the front running veteran hangs on for a place.
Selections:
2pts Spirit Quartz 5/1 Bet365
1pt EW Judge ‘N’ Jury 7/1 Skybet
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Author: Ray Singpost
