Sam King is back with three selections on Wednesday.
Brighton kicks off it's three-day summer festival, one which I'd urge anyone to attend if they get the chance to.
There will be plenty or regular names such as Tony Carroll, Gary and Josh Moore, and John Gallagher, scattered across the race cards for the course of the three days, but one name that did slightly surprise me when flicking through the opening day's decalrations was Ralph Beckett.
A far cry from a regular on the Sussex coast, Beckett heads to Brighton having endured a turbulent week at Glorious Goodwood, with Lennox favourite Kinross forced to be withdrawn down at the start, Tabiti and Saqqara Sands dead-heating in the Oak Tree Stakes and Qirat stunning Field Of Gold and co at 150/1 in the Sussex Stakes.
The Kimpton Downs-based handler has saddled just four runners at Brighton in the last five years, with one finding the winners' circle, one third and one fourth placed finish. He's yet to send one down this season, so it's certainly interesting that the unexposed three-year-old Man Of La Mancha makes the journey to contest the feature Brighton Mile at 3.45.
A gelded son of Lope de Vega, Man Of La Mancha has proved somewhat frustrating throughout his three-year-old campaign, despite holding a progressive profile.
A winner on his handicap debut at Windsor earlier in the season, he went on to finish an unlucky second under a penalty having found plenty of trouble in running before running a blinder behind Gladius at Sandown next time out. Andrew Balding's winner has since gone on to land a valuable handicap at Glorious Goodwood and has been reassessed with a mark of 99 by the handicapper. I have no doubt that is the best recent form on offer here.
Man Of La Mancha once again looked a touch unlucky when denied a clear run at Sandown on his final outing, while that form also looks to be holding up nicely with the winner Indalo going on to finish a good fourth behind the aforementioned Gladius in that Goodwood handicap.
Whilst promising apprentice Jack Dace has done little wrong in defeat on Man Of La Mancha on both occasions this season, the more experienced Eddy Greatrex looks an interesting addition stepping into the saddle for the first time.
There's no guarantee that this horse will handle the undulations of Brighton, but should he do so, then he would surely have every chance of giving his handler a rare winner down on the south coast.
2pt Win - Man Of La Mancha
Odds – 13/8
The next best bet of the day comes from Kempton, where Grizedale looks a knocking wager to oblige second time out in the mile novice at 8.20.
With market support once again coming for the Ralph Beckett-trained Satavia, who dropped away very tamely on debut when well-backed at Windsor last month, Grizedale appears to now be a backable price at around the 13/8 mark.
Dan and Clare Jubler's promising three-year-old has been given plenty of time to strengthen up both physically and mentally since his very pleasing debut second at Southwell 101 days ago.
Having been slowly away on that occasion, he made a sweeping move with a nice turn of foot to put himself bang in contention down the home straight. Whilst he failed to get the job done first time out, it's easy to forgive him petering out only late on given how slowly away he was, while the eventual winner already had the benefit of experience and looks a solid yardstick with a mark in the mid-80s.
The booking of top in-form jockey Oisin Murphy, who tends to ride Kempton just about as well as anybody in the saddle these days, catches the eye. Stall one would be a niggling concern considering how slowly away he was on debut, but if getting away on terms, he could take an awful lot of beating for a shrewd stable.
1pt Win – Grizedale
Odds – 13/8
Profiteer doesn't earn tops marks for consistency, but he simply loves it up at Pontefract and should take some stopping if on a going day in the six-furlong handicap at 4.05.
Trained by Tim Easterby, who landed this same prize twelve months ago, Profiteer has seen the handicapper relent in recent outings and it looked to pay dividends when he was well-backed prior to his latest effort. He bumped into one on that occasion and could only manage to fill the runner-up spot but looks primed to go one spot better if running to a similar level.
He's two from two over this course and distance and should have the race to run to suit from stall two, while a 1lb nudge up the weights for his recent second ought not to matter given the fact he's won off a mark of 64 around here last season.
1pt Win – Profiteer
Odds – 9/4
