Jake Price's Saturday Racing Tips at Sandown

One Horse who will love the Spring ground at Sandown on Saturday is Fiercely Proud, and he looks to have outstanding claims for the Ben Pauling yard.

This 5yo has already enjoyed a fruitful campaign with victories at Hereford and Taunton on decent ground in the Autumn, but since then he's made a successful step-up into Grades company. Firstly, he was 2L 3rd behind Jeriko Du Reponet (136) at Doncaster, before he was then 2nd to Lump Sum (135) in the Dovecote at Kempton. Better ground and a rating of 130 makes him look very well treated on his Handicap debut, and this Series Final has been the plan for some time.

It is kind of mad that Le Milos hasn't ran over fences yet this season, but on the final day of the National Hunt campaign he surely has a strong chance back over the larger obstacles.

Winner of the Ladbrokes Trophy on Good ground last season off a mark of 146, Le Milos was an unlucky 2nd in the Premier Chase at Kelso before finishing 10th in the Grand National when not really staying that marathon distance. This year he's been kept to Hurdles company, however, qualifying for the Pertemps Final where he finished a disappointing 13th. As such he has seen his Chase mark drop from 152 to 149, so back on some better ground he surely has a decent chance for the title-chasing Skelton team.

The final race of the 2023/24 National Hunt season is a very competitive Handicap Hurdle, but I’m convinced we are yet to see the best of Gold Dancer.

This 5yo was recruited from France following an easy win at Compiegne in May last year, moving across to Willie Mullins. In two starts to date for his new stable he's twice ran in Graded contests, firstly finishing down the field in the 2m Grade 1 Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival, before more recently finishing 4th in the Grade 2 at Fairyhouse. Better ground will surely suit this son of Doctor Dino, and an opening Handicap mark of just 130 looks tantalising to my eye.