15:35 Sandown - Bet365 Celebration Chase
There are just the six runners in this Group 1 two mile chase but we have the last four Champion Chase winners against each other so it has the makings of an absolute classic.
For me, seeing Sprinter Sacre round the bend and destroy the ultra impressive Un De Sceaux at the Cheltenham festival was the absolute highlight of the entire meeting (even though I had backed the Mullins horse) and he is favourite to follow up here at Sundown today. He still hasn't run quite up to his mark before he had the heart problems but that performance at Cheltenham put him closer and it was a fantastic effort.
Dodging Bullets won the Champion Chase last year and then got injured so we haven't seen anywhere near his best since then. He has had two runs since his injury with the last one being at the Festival where he ran well for a long way before the lack of fitness definitely told. However, even at his best I don't think he is good enough to seriously trouble to two market rivals so unless he is right on his game today I don't think he will figure.
Sire De Grugy was another winner, in 2014, however he has seemed below his best so far this year and it is hard to see him overturning what appeared to be a huge gap in class between him and the market rivals.
Un De Sceaux for Willie Mullins was the heavily backed odds on favourite at Cheltenham and ran from the front like normal but could not find anything when asked the question by Sprinter Sacre. Today's course will suit him a lot more though and it is a fast galloping track which I think will play into his hands. He has run a lot of his races with cut in the ground however given his action I have a feeling he will relish the quick ground here at Sandown today and will fly around. As long as he gets his feet right, as he does have the tendency to put in the odd error, then I can see him having too much speed for Sprinter and reclaiming a little bit of the bragging rights back after Cheltenham.
Man Utd v Everton
The first FA Cup semi takes place today with an all North West affair. Utd haven't been particularly great this season but I strongly fancy them to go through against a weakened Everton team that were completely embarrassed by their arch rivals Liverpool on Wednesday.
Everton were so awful that is it hard to believe they can recover in three days to put in a good enough performance to trouble a Utd side that although don't look that great, they have enough players to cause plenty of problems for an unexperienced Everton defence. I will be having my biggest bet for quite a while as we can still obtain odds against on Utd which I think is tremendous value.
Today's Selections
Sandown 15:35 - Un De Sceaux - 2 points @ 13/8 (Coral)
Man Utd v Everton - Utd - 5 points @ evens (William Hill)