Beverley,Salisbury and Sandown

Three flat meetings in the UK this afternoon and Salisbury has the best card, featuring the Group Three Sovereign Stakes over a mile at 17.15 CET. There are 7 runners, including last year´s winner Ordnance Row (Richard hannon/ Richard Hughes), but he seems held on recent form. Confront (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) represents the stable who won the two top races here yesterday and he seems certain to start favourite after his excellent second place in an Ascot Group Two. Khateeb )Michael Jarvis/ Tadgh O´Shea) won well at Pontefract last time and holds the Godolphin runner Orizaba (Ted Durcan), the only 3yo in the field, on that running, while Laa Rayb (Mark Johnston/ Jimmy Fortune) was an easy winner of a valuable Goodwood handicap last time.

Also at Salisbury, Ermine and Velvet (Clive Brittain/ Hayley Turner) should beat Primaeval (James Fanshawe/ Jamie Spencer) in the 7 furlongs maiden race at 16.05, while German-owned Doggerbank (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) has the improving Galilean Moon (Stoute/ Moore) to beat in the fillies handicap at 16.40. Frankie Dettori is riding at Sandown and can continue Godolphin´s winning run on Mezenah in the fillies maiden at 17.00 (though debutant Ghaneema - Marcus Tregoning/ Richard Hills-could be a dangerous opponent). Dettori and Hills can also fight out the finish of the 7 furlongs handicap at 16.25 with Film Set and Shabib respectively. At Beverley there are a couple of very open handicaps. Generally speaking high numbers (i.e.inside draw) have an advantage in 5 furlong races here, but we will take a chance on Wicked Wilma (Alan Berry/ Slade O´Hara), drawn 6 of 17, in a wide open sprint at 16.15. At 16.50 over 10 furlongs, almost all the 11 runners could win, with both Mohee bb (Ruth Carr/ Robert Winston), who has a huge weight to carry, and Tufton (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) chasing hat-tricks, and the most consistent Jo´Burg (Lady Herries/ Mark Lane) making the long journey north from the south coast.