Sagaro at Kempton

Wow! how impressive was Sanctuaire at the weekend, I was confident about him winning but who could have expected him to be 25 lengths clear at the first railway fence and beat Somersby easily by 17 lengths. He jumped probably better than any horse I've seen round Sandown gaining a couple of lengths at each fence over his rivals. All I can say is that the Champion Chase next year is going to be an unbelievable race, Sanctuaire tearing off in front with Sprinter Sacre getting the lead in and Finian's Rainbow trying to get them late. But surely its too early to get excited about Cheltenham, is it?

But onto today's racing and Ascot was Abandoned which means the Sagaro is transferred to Kempton instead, a fairly high class field tackles the race, even with 6 runners in there.

3:45
ELECTROLYSER popped up in a good race at Nottingham last time out to end his 3 year losing spell. Even in that winless run he was still running well consistently and it will be interesting to see if he has turned a corner in his career. He may just be playing for the minor prize money. Both him and RED CADEAUX carry penalties and must give 3 pounds to the others who are all 4 year olds. The latter has been running well all round the world lately when getting touched off by Dunaden in the Melbourne Cup and coming 3rd behind the same horse in the Hong Kong Vase. He has come placed here on this surface but that form wouldn't be strong enough to win a race of this standard. Saying that he has been running well lately and if the break has freshened him up he should go close. SOLAR SKY is the lowest rated in the field but is by no stretch of the imagination out of it. He was 2nd behind Namibian in the Queens Vase at Ascot last year and was staying on behind ELECTROLYSER last time out over a shorter trip, this looks ideal today. He will have to improve however. COLOUR VISION is coming back from a break today and also has his first run for Mahmood Al-Zarooni which can only be a positive. He was third in the Cesarewitch last year and then went on to be 3rd behind Fame and Glory when staying on very strongly on QIPCO Champions day last year. He by far brings the strongest form to the table and a strong run race will suit him down to the ground. BARBICAN returns from an unsuccessful raid in Dubai when he had more in front than behind when beaten soundly by Opinion Poll, on that form the Godolphin runner holds him however Darryl Holland's mount has won at Kempton before and clearly has no problem with the fibresand. I just feel that there are horses more open to improvement int his field and he could struggle today. One of them more open to improvement is the selection today which is THIMAAR who is a dual winner over the distance and also a course and distance winner. That course and distance win came last time out when he beat Gulf Of Naples early last month. Them two were well clear of their opponents that day and both look good horses. I was impressed with how well he stayed on for Paul Hanagan and the race looks sure to set up to his strengths today. The way I see the race panning out is Electrolyser and Barbican making the running and possibly cutting each others throats with Thimaar settled in behind. He should be able to pick them up turning for home and his stamina can kick in with Solar Sky and Colour Vision coming late but not getting there. THIMAAR to win the Sagaro.

I know last week I said I will be trying to put a blog up each day and I was trying to stick with that but there have been things going on and haven't been able to update them. I will be trying to update the blog more often and I may even try and get a couple of jockey interviews if possible.

Happy punting as always :)