18:00
Leopardstown
Odds correct as of 2:15pm 05th Aug
There are a couple of interesting angles to look at on Thursday and there are seven meetings in total across Britain and Ireland. Leading British trainer William Haggas is sending stable jockey Tom Marquand over to Ireland, as the pair launch a daring Leopardstown raid. It could be a good day for the Goldolphin operation on Thursday, as they have four excellent chances at Sandown. Take a look at our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
William Haggas is 1/12 at Leopardstown during his training career so far and he’ll be hoping that Needle Match can land him a second victory. Having only had three starts so far, he remains lightly raced and there’s obviously plenty of scope for improvement.
He won a Newbury novice on debut as a two-year-old last term and wasn’t disgraced when finishing fourth in the Greenham Stakes on seasonal debut. Struggling in the 2000 Guineas next time, he’s been given plenty of time to get over that and the drop in class will definitely be in his favour.
Godolphin are one of the most successful operations in the world and their famous blue silks are set to be carried by four horses with big chances at Sandown on Thursday.
Charlie Appleby’s Catching Dreams produced a promising performance to finish second on debut at Lingfield last month, overcoming a slow start to finish less than a length behind the winner. He’s entitled to improve on that performance and should be going one better if managing to do so.
First Law makes his debut here and the Charlie Appleby-trained two-year-old is related to some useful types. His trainer has a healthy strike-rate with juvenile newcomers at Sandown and that bodes well.
Interstate represents the John & Thady Gosden yard and he has finished second in two of his three starts so far. Narrowly denied on both occasions, the best is surely yet to come from him and the switch to handicaps could make a big difference.
Desert Shadow has leading jockey Oisin Murphy on board here and the four-year-old managed to get off the mark at Lingfield when last seen. It’s hard to argue with a 3lb rise off the back of that performance and a follow up victory could well be on the cards.