Coral Challenge – 2.25 Sandown Park – Saturday 4th July

Over the course of the first three or four days of Royal Ascot’s meeting last month, a perceived or actual bias developed notably towards the stands side. Some of it was definitely better ground, and as things panned out, some of it was probably confirmation bias and jockey choice.

But what was clear was that the Royal Hunt Cup produced a fascinating result and aspect, as no fewer than 20 horses (over ⅔ of the field) raced far side, and as such quite a few can be worth marking up significantly.

Fast forward to this weekend’s Coral Challenge at 2.25 at Sandown Park on Saturday, and we get the first real chance to see how this particular angle plays out, as 7 horses could re-oppose from the Royal Hunt Cup. Even more intriguing is the fact that 6 of them raced in the seemingly unfavoured far side group.

Indalo and Cerulean Bay are priced up in single figures for Saturday, Classic is a top price 12/1 and the two horses that were most ‘unlucky’ and caught the eye for differing reasons are available at 25/1.

No Retreat was just edging into contention when being hampered 2f out, momentarily eased off and then ran on to the line really nicely. He is on the radar, but as things stand, isn’t jocked up and so it might be a case of waiting to see him declared. The other horse who was worthy of ‘tracker’ addition was Ozat, who was having just his third start for Ian Williams, and has solid Group form in France and Italy.

At 25/1 each-way generally, Ozat is a 1-star * ante-post selection for WhichBookie, as he finished on the heels of Indalo and Cerulean Bay in the unfavoured far side group of the Hunt Cup, having been switched to the middle from stall 1 and then back to the far side in the closing stages. He covered way more ground than either of his two reopposing rivals and yet is 25/1 compared with the single figure quotes they currently show.