CRESTA RUN

14:05 Sandown

When looking at this this race the very obvious place to start is with the Gosden trained Sea The Stars colt Reach For the Moon. Reach For the Moon has had three runs to date, beaten by a £260,000 Royal Ascot bound Godolphin horse on debut. He then reversed form with that horse when finishing second in the Chesham on soft ground. His last run was back in a Novice race at Newbury where he went off a very short price and comfortably beat Harrow who has franked the form at York this week. He looks a horse for middle distances next year but is still open to a lot of improvement as a two-year-old. He will be a short price again today, but this is a race that favourites have dominated in recent years, and he could add to that record.

Reach for the Moon is not a price to work with today and the race could have done with another runner to give three places but with only seven runners we only have two places available. That said however, we need to look at the rest of the field as there are a couple of improvers. Cresta is a New Bay colt trained by Martyn Meade. He has only had one run and made it a winning one at Leicester. Although green he beat a previous Charlie Appleby winner despite taking a hefty bump just after the start. He holds entries in some of the top two-year-old races (as does Reach for The Moon) and could be anything. He would need to improve significantly to trouble the favourite but that’s certainly possible.

Andrew Balding has had a fabulous year with his two-year-old’s and he runs a filly called Star From Afarhh who like Cresta is a once raced maiden winner. She won over Seven furlongs at Newmarket and both Second and Fourth won next time out. She has entries in Group 2 and Group 3 events and again like Cresta must improve but Andrew Balding two years generally improve for their first run so the fact that she has won already is a promising sign.

Austrian Theory has a higher official rating than the favourite here. He looked outclassed in a Group 2 at Newmarket but then ran third in the same grade at Goodwood. However, I do feel he is flattered particularly by the Goodwood run where those behind suffered interference. I am happy to look elsewhere today.

Great Max looks held by Reach For The Moon on form and Atheby looks like a social runner and is out of his depth. The final runner is Rerouted who travels over from Ireland. He is well regarded but seemed to show more on the track than he had at home when winning on debut. He won on debut despite being drawn very wide and running green, he is open to lots of improvement but maybe lacks the scope of some of the others here.

So the world and his wife are going to tip up Reach For The Moon here and his chance is obvious, he has the form in the book and is open to just as much as improvement as his rivals, however he is a very short price and you aren’t reading a preview on this type of site to be given a very short priced tip. Therefore I am going to take a chance with Cresta His Leicester run can be marked up as he made ground up easily after a nasty bump at the start. He needs to improve but will do and this race has been won four times in ten years by a once raced winner. Even if the favourite wins we are in profit of Cresta Comes second.

CRESTA (E/W)

written by Steve Marriott