Weekend Eyecatchers: Tom Collins identifies two horses worth following

It was a below-par weekend of domestic action aside from the Coral-Eclipse, so I spent the afternoon trying to identify and pinpoint a handful of future winners.

Two horses jumped out in particular, and hopefully they escaped the attention of other punters and traders in the process. Consider putting the following horses in your tracker as I believe they will reward you before the season is out!

Bajan Bandit

Race: 5.00 Haydock, Saturday
Finishing position: 4th
Why you should follow this horse: New mark doesn’t look like it will stop him

Grant Tuer is enduring a pretty tough spell with just one winner from his last 18 runners, which doesn’t get any better when you look at his June statistics (15 places and just six winners from 51 starters). It’s been a pretty unlucky period for a trainer who has thrived with limited stock in recent years.

However, he has a horse ready to capitalise off his current mark in the form of Bajan Bandit. Tuer purchased this three-year-old son of Oasis Dream for 20,000gns at the Horses-In-Training Sale back in October and, following a quiet reappearance on soft ground at Newbury, he recorded a pretty impressive all-the-way success at Haydock (12/1).

The handicapper raised him 4lb for that victory and he was again unconsidered (14/1) on Saturday over the same course and distance. Nevertheless, Bajan Bandit travelled powerfully in rear before finding numerous traffic issues as rider Sam James attempted to make up ground. He eventually got an opening with a furlong to run and he finished his race off nicely without James opting to use the whip.

Nails Murphy (winner), Bussento (second) and Man Of Eden (third) are all improving and give the form a strong look, and the way Bajan Bandit hit the line strongly hinted that he has the means to strike in a similar contest.

Silent Film

Race: 2.25 Sandown, Saturday
Finishing position: 11th
Why you should follow this horse: Ran far better than finishing position suggests

Ian Williams paid 120,000gns to purchase this former Godolphin-owned five-year-old - a price you don’t see too often for a gelded handicapper. However, two starts for current connections suggest it might not be money poorly spent.

I fancied Silent Film to run a nice race on his reappearance at Royal Ascot last month and he duly showed up well for a long way at a huge price (80/1) in the Buckingham Palace Stakes. He attracted far more support at Sandown at the weekend (11/1) and performed similarly despite achieving a final position of 11th.

Silent Film showed plenty of natural speed to sit fourth throughout the early part of the mile contest, and appeared full of running when rider William Buick tried to find an opening a couple of furlongs from home. However, he was stopped on three consecutive occasions and was eventually eased inside the final furlong when his chance had gone.

He was travelling better than the eventual sixth (Major Partnership) and eighth (Spirit Catcher) at the time of interference, so it wouldn’t be a reach to assume that he would have finished ahead of the pair. Take his duck-egg ‘0’ in the form figures with a pinch of salt.

The handicapper won’t see it that way and will likely drop him in the weights, which would make him even more attractive next time should connections revert to seven furlongs on a straight track. I believe he has the ability to contend the major handicaps, yet he’s now comfortably rated to run in 0-100 contests.