ITV Racing Tips for Saturday: Best Bets from Beverley, Sandown and Chester

The ITV Racing coverage features the Group 3 Solario Stakes from Sandown, which the Gosden stable has won with the likes of Raven's Pass (2007), Kingman (2013), Too Darn Hot (2018) and Field Of Gold (2024), so will Publish follow suit?

The ITV Racing team are in situ covering four races at the Esher venue, with two contests at Beverley and Chester also featuring live on their ITV1 broadcast from 13:15-16:00.

Our racing expert has picked out three horses to follow on the terrestrial offering from each of the tracks.

13:50 Sandown

The opening contest on Sandown’s Premier card on Saturday is a competitive seven-furlong handicap that has been won by a horse near the top of the weights in three of the last four years.

Three-year-olds Headmaster and Woroodd are unexposed and open to improvement, while Kodi Lion has been in good form this year, but there looks to be value in siding with GALERON for Charlie Hills.

The five-year-old showed plenty of ability in his first spell with Hills, including finishing fourth and fifth in the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas in 2023, before an unsuccessful year in Australia.

The son of Camacho made a promising return to Britain when an eye-catching fifth in the Lincoln in March, travelling nicely throughout and beaten only two lengths. The winner went in again next time, which shows the magnitude of the task he faced.

Galeron has failed to back that up in four subsequent starts, but all those runs have come in Class 2 company on quicker ground, most recently when found to have an irregular heartbeat.

He’ll be much better suited by conditions at Sandown, given four of his top five Racing Post Ratings have come on ground softer than good, including his last win, and this represents a drop in class. He can take advantage of a mark 6lb lower than for his reappearance.

14:05 Beverley

Three-year-old Redorange and 2023 race winner Kerdos need respect in the Beverley Bullet for Clive Cox, who has won three of the last four runnings, but older horses have dominated this contest and that looks set to continue as the standout is seven-year-old REGIONAL.

This Listed contest is a significant drop in class for Regional, who landed Haydock’s Group 1 Sprint Cup in September 2023. He hasn’t won since, but he’s put in a string of consistently good efforts in better company, including close thirds in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan and the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He was far from disgraced in a Group 1 at Deauville last time, when the six and a half furlongs probably stretched his stamina, and he drops into Listed company for the first since winning the Achilles Stakes at Haydock in June two years ago.

This shorter trip, coupled with the fast ground, should prove ideal for Regional, who should have too much class for these rivals.

15:15 Chester

The return to Chester should bring out the best in AL SHABAB STORM, who has run a couple of nice races on the all-weather since joining Marco Botti from Andrew Balding.

The four-year-old son of Advertise has form figures of 2112 on the Roodee, including a Listed success over seven furlongs in July last year and a close second when dropped to six furlongs behind Quinault, who has since won two Listed races and a Group 3.

He was a promising third in the Listed Lady Wulfruna Stakes at Wolverhampton on his reappearance, an effort that can be marked up given he was keen and raced wide, and he showed this mark of 109 wasn’t beyond him when beaten just three-quarters of a length back in handicap company in the Racing League last month.

Al Shabab Storm came in for support at Newcastle last time but was far too keen when racing closer to the pace and faded, but that stiff, straight track was unlikely to suit as much as this sharp, left-handed course.

He’s untested over this distance and will have to settle better than last time, but he’s well drawn in stall three to obtain a good position and is expected to bounce back at a course that clearly suits him well.