Megan Nicholls Racing Preview: Goodwood & Sandown Tips
Goodwood 2.00 – Handicap (Class 2)
Forty Years On (5/2 fav) is hard not to side with.
Lightly raced but has an extremely good win-to-run record and was very impressive at Newbury last time when pulling clear with ease.
Forty Years On has to step it up again but there’s no reason to think otherwise and it’s hard to know where that ceiling lies.
Goodwood, obviously, can become a bit of a specialist track so if I was putting up an each-way horse here it would be Rhoscolyn (17/2) – especially if the rain comes early enough on Saturday.
He loves it over course and distance and loves the rain if it does arrive.
Megan’s Tip: Forty Years On WIN & Rhoscolyn E/W
Goodwood 2.35 – Handicap (GBBPlus Race)
Tony Montana (5/1) is slightly up in distance from an unlucky placing at Goodwood last time.
He flew home in the closing stages – that was over the 10 furlongs.
He looks like he’s about ready to win – a horse that has always had a lot of ability but it hasn’t always added up and worked out, but he looks ready again.
Interesting back to the mile and a half – especially on the back of what we saw last time.
We know he handles the track and hopefully the race will be run to suit him.
A bit of pace on does help and then he’s got a couple of horses to aim at; that would be the ideal setup.
Megan’s Tip: Tony Montana WIN
Sandown 2.50 – BetMGM Atalanta Stakes
Over at Sandown I like Calendar Girl (7/2), who won on a bit of a delayed return.
Winner of the Oh So Sharp at Newmarket at the back end of last season, where she had a pretty amazing campaign really – picking up an amazing amount of prize money – with sales races along with the group race that she picked up as well.
Owen Burrows said early on in the season that she wasn’t necessarily training quite how they would like her to. But they’ve given her loads of time which paid off with a nice winning return up at Haydock.
The mile suits her, she’s proven she’s capable at the Group 3 level already and is still potentially open to further improvement.
Obviously she’s only had that one start to date so far this year but I think she can build on that.
I’m surprised she’s not a shorter price actually as she’s a lot more consistent than plenty in the field.
I’m going to put up the lightly raced So Regal (15/2) as my each-way selection.
She ran a strange race last time when possibly got there too soon, quickened up like she was going to be the winner and just tired late on. She was probably just doing a bit too much on the front end.
She was a winner at Ascot prior to that, trainer John Gosden does well with this type and she’s obviously going for a bit of black type and she is there with a real solid chance.
Plenty of improvement still to come from her and the form looks, in places, pretty strong going back through her maidens.
Megan’s Tip: Calendar Girl WIN & So Regal E/W
Goodwood 3.10 – Celebration Mile Stakes
I like Boiling Point (7/2), who’s down in distance.
He’s been running well over the mile and one furlong as well as the 10 furlongs. He was also the winner over a mile and two furlongs at Goodwood back in May when showing a good attitude.
Now he does tend to bowl along on the front end and, in this race, it's not necessarily going to be the case of getting an early lead because you’ve got the likes of Qirat (9/2) who can go forward.
But, down to the mile, he may be able to make better use of that early speed and save a little bit more for the latter part of the race.
Just over the 10 furlongs he’s been getting run out of things late on where, because he’s quite a forward-going type, he has been not allowing himself to see out the distance.
So down in trip suits, the track suits and, if there is a bit of rain, that shouldn’t be an issue; he seems to be versatile in terms of the ground.
Megan’s Tip: Boiling Point WIN
Sandown 3.30 – BetMGM Solario Stakes
The BetMGM Solario Stakes is fascinating with the top three in the market very unexposed types.
You’ve got Rock Montreal (7/4 fav) from Godolphin, a maiden winner trained by Roger Varian who cost a million guineas as a yearling. He’s from a good family — by Blue Point — and won nicely at Yarmouth.
Breacher (11/4) for William Muir is another who was a winner at Salisbury on debut.
William spoke very highly of this horse afterwards, saying he could be the best they’ve ever had and that his work has been phenomenal throughout.
He’s a really interesting horse who still looked to be a bit green on debut but is likely to take a pretty big step forward here.
And then you’ve got Sonic Angel (7/2) for the Crisfords, who won by five-and-a-half lengths at Kempton on his second start, so under a penalty, made it all look very straightforward that day and quickened up extremely well.
It’s hard to know what his beat is as most of the horses haven’t actually come back on the track yet and that win was only about 10 days ago, so a relatively quick turnaround but has got some experience in running at Newcastle prior to that.
It’s also going to depend on what happens with the ground. And it’s hard to know how much Rock Montreal is going to improve for Roger with William Buick on board this time as well.
So it’s a wide-open race but I’m going to look toward Sonic Angel on this occasion… just.
Again, he really impressed me the way he made it all look straightforward and quickened clear with ease at Kempton under that penalty.
It’s a relatively quick turnaround but it shouldn’t be too much of an issue and he warrants this step up in distance. He’s a son of Dark Angel, too.
Shouldn’t have an issue with the change in surface with both of his previous victories have been on the all-weather so he switches to the turf for the first time.
Megan’s Tip: Sonic Angel WIN
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation
