Friday is Horses For Courses (H4C) report day at Geegeez and this feature does exactly what you'd expect, as it shows the full course history since 2009 of any horse running that has previously had a run at that track, sorted by number of wins, but this can be changed to any column at your discretion.
As well as today’s race time, course, horse name, jockey and trainer name, there is a breakdown of runs, wins and places, and profit and loss calculations for both win and each way betting. And as with all Geegeez reports, there is a ‘Today’ and a ‘Tomorrow’ (for the next day’s racing) view.
HINT: Layers might like to look towards the lower end of the report, for those with negative performance at the track, but please refer to our User Guide for further information.
My fairly restrictive chosen settings for the H4C report...
...have yielded just one qualifier, but your own chosen parameters might give even more joy...
This free report is, of course, backed up by our daily list of 'free' races...
- 1.23 Doncaster
- 2.25 Sandown
- 2.40 Perth
- 3.25 Cork
- 5.35 Cork
- 5.40 Chepstow
...with the best (on paper, at least!) of these being the 2.25 Sandown, a 7-runner, Group 3 Flat contest for horses aged 4 and over. The trip is a right-handed 1m2f on good ground and here's how they line up...
As you'd hope of a race of this standard, it looks very competitive and the bookies think (at 2pm Thursday) that it will be a tight 4-way affair here and I'm initially inclined to agree...
...my job, I assume, is to try and find which of the four ticks most boxes.
Checkandchallenge and Tasman Bay both won last time out, but the latter was winning for the first time after eight defeats and 'only' won a Class 3 handicap, so this is much tougher. The 'form' horse here is Okeechobee who has yet to finish outside of the first two home and was a Listed class runner-up last time out. Desert Hero has two wins and an LTO third place in the St Leger from his last three starts and all seven have won at least one of their last five.
Tasman Bay is the only one to have raced at Class 1 last time and at 19 days off, he's the quickest back onto the track. Okeechobee raced 25 days ago, but the others haven't been seen for 174 to 344 days, during which time Artistic Star, Desert Hero and Flying Honours were all gelded (this is Okeechobee's second run after the same op). Israr was a very good second of eight in an Ascot group 3 race on his last UK run back in October and now wears blinkers for the first time and if they go at a dawdle today, that might help Desert Hero late on, as he's denoted as a fast finisher.
Desert Hero is, however, the only one in the field yet to win at this trip although he has won over 1m1f. Two of the seven have won here at Sandown previously; Artistic Star won a Class 2 Novice race over course and distance almost a year ago, whilst Flying Honours scored over a much shorter 7f here in a Class 4 Novice contest back in July 2022. Israr, Okeechobee and Tasman Bay are yet to step foot on this track, as seen on Instant Expert...
...which shows the afore-mentioned Flying Honours in a really good light and looks best suited of the four market leaders. That said, Okeechobee has only one turf run to his name so far and that was a very comfortable Class 2 handicap success over today's trip.
The draw stats from previous similar races here at Sandown suggest that those drawn highest might fare best...
...but I am cautious about the effect of the draw over 1m2f with a small field, but if it bears true, Israr is the biggest beneficiary of the four principals here, although they occupy stalls 2, 4 and 5 so they're hardly spread out. Pace, however, is a different matter entirely and of the four expected to be in the mix, Okeechobee looks the most likely to set the pace, Flying Honours tends to run in mid-division with Desert Hero and Israr further back...
...although Desert Hero did lead four starts ago in what turned out to be his worst race to date, so I doubt he'll be up front here! If we look at back at those races we took the draw stats from, we're informed that leaders and especially prominent stalkers are the ones to be with...
...which probably gives a slight advantage to Okeechobee.
Summary
The market and I both think this is a four-horse race and of the four tightly grouped at the head of the market, I think I like Okeechobee best of the four, despite his inexperience on grass. He's had a recent run unlike the other three, brings the best set of results to the table and should be well suited by the pace of the race.
There's not much to choose between the other three, but if pushed to put them in order, I'd probably go Okeechobee / Israr / Desert Hero / Flying Honours, but that's not a tip!