The Solario Stakes takes place on Saturday and is ran at Sandown Park, with the scheduled off time at 2:25pm UK time. Those who are in the UK at home can watch the race because it features in the ITV4 television coverage that afternoon.
The race is ran over 7 furlongs and it is a Group 3 race for two year olds. This race usually brings out a clash between the already proven horses from earlier in the season and the ones that have only ran once, who are just beginning their careers. This year is no different and we look to have a great clash ready to take place on Saturday.
The horse I really like in the race, and the one I think could turn out to be very special is the once raced colt Purser, who is trained by John Gosden. The horse has only ran once, two weeks ago and he won on debut, which is something that not many John Gosden horses do. His two year olds always improve a lot for their first run and because of that, only the ones that are top class go on to win their debuts.
With Purser winning his debut, he could be that good and I am very excited to see how he goes on in his second start, hopefully he can build on the huge promise he showed that day. He really could be anything at this stage, but from what I’ve seen and what I know about the stable, I am more than happy to back him to win this race. Purser can be backed at 100/30 with Ladbrokes at the moment for the race, a price that I do not see lasting for long, such is the promise this impressive colt has.
Elsewhere, the proven form in the race comes from the Godolphin horse Masar who is running here after a mini break during the summer. He was last seen when finishing third behind the impressive September at the Royal Ascot meeting and if he is full fit then he sets a very good standard for the others to aim at. My worry with him is that he has not ran for 70 days and may just need this reappearance, before targeting races during the autumn. If he does come back at his best though then he sets a good standard and that is why he is the current favourite.
Connect is another horse I like in the race and one that could still be improving, the same as my selection Purser. He improved massively between his first two runs and won his second race by six lengths, which makes him fully capable of mixing with these high class horses. He deserves his place in this line-up, but whether or not he is actually good enough to win the race remains to be seen and like my selection Purser, we will know a lot more about him after we have seen this race.
Romanised is the last horse I would like to mention, he comes across from Ireland for this race. He has to bounce back from two slightly below par runs recent, but they came in top races and he isn’t necessarily out of this race. He won his debut nicely and this represents a return to a standard that will suit him better.
This race is very open and many horses look to be in with a chance of winning the race. We have horses that set a good standard and that have already shown us what they are capable of, running against horses with huge potential to improve and be top class. What I am hoping to see is a star performance by one of these horses, giving us a real top class prospect to looking forward to seeing the rest of this season and next season.
The horse I am backing is Purser, who has ran just the once and could be one of those huge improves I have spoken about. Horses from the John Gosden yard tend to improve quite a lot from their first run so I can’t wait to see how he performs.
He has a couple of good horses to run against, and a win against those would show a good level of form. At the 100/30 price that is on offer with PaddyPower, I think he represents tremendous value this weekend and is the most exciting horse on show for me in any race in the UK this weekend.