Friday’s Horse Racing Tip: Tom Collins is backing handicap debutant to score at Sandown

Small fields are the order of the day at Sandown tomorrow afternoon with heavy ground deterring numerous connections from running their stablestars on a high-quality card.

There are only four runners set to go to post in the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes - a race that often struggles to attract vast numbers - while the Group 2 Mile and Group 3 Classic Trial will feature seven and five runners respectively. If it’s quantity you are after, glancing at this card wouldn’t have lit the fire in your belly.

Quality isn’t an issue, though, as two-time Group 1-winner Adayar, Group 2 scorers Anmaat and Mutasaabeq, and Criterium de Saint-Cloud runner-up Arrest all return to the track. Yet it’s the closing 0-85 handicap (4.40 Sandown) that catches my eye from a punting point of view.

The market is congested with all four horses separated by just two points. Andrew Balding’s Ribal currently tops the betting on the back of an encouraging runner-up finish behind the Amo Racing-owned Maxi King at Doncaster. But maybe that’s a bit of recency bias?

He proved that he can handle a deep surface that day and an opening mark of 79 appears pretty fair, but he’s yet to win and I’m pretty concerned about this 1m2f trip. He ran over this distance last time and it was quite notable how quickly he flattened out inside the final half furlong. He might have just got tired after a long break, but I believe this is a little further than his optimum distance right now.

The only other horse in the line-up that’s already run in 2023 is John and Thady Gosden’s Maasai Mara, who bolted up over 1m3f in first-time blinkers on his seasonal reappearance before being outclassed by a Godolphin rival when last seen. Another son of Roaring Lion, this three-year-old colt now switches from the all-weather to rain-softened turf and could lack a gear or two.

I’m far more interested in the two handicap debutants. Ralph Beckett’s Feud has been gelded since he was last seen at Kempton before Christmas and has to be feared on the step up in trip, but Rathgar has far stronger credentials on his juvenile form and is surely the horse to beat in this line-up.

Jack Channon, who has made a promising start to his training career, will love the going description for his chestnut colt. After a couple of educational runs, Rathgar devoured the deep ground in a Goodwood novice back in October and earned a mark of 83. He stepped forward around 4lb for each start last time and further progression is almost guaranteed.

Providing he’s fit enough to do himself justice off the layoff, Rathgar should grab an early prominent position and appreciate the testing ground and distance of this race more than his foes. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t vie for favouritism before the off.

Friday’s Horse Racing Tip

Rathgar (4.40 Sandown) @ 3.85