'He remains well handicapped on past form' - Paul Kealy with three Friday selections

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Fast Buck
1.15 Sandown
1pt win

Animal
3.00 Sandown
1pt win

Magical King
3.35 Sandown
1pt win

Anyone who took the tempting early prices about Constitution Hill in Saturday's rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle will no doubt be watching the opening race of Sandown's two-day meeting with as keen an eye as trainer Nicky Henderson.

Constitution Hill made the final declarations on Thursday, but Henderson is not averse to changing his mind when it comes to the Sandown going, and if he sees Nico de Boinville bouncing up and down on the spot after the last on the stable's Goblet Of Fire in the betting.betfair.com 'introductory' Juvenile Hurdle (12.40), he may well do so.

A race full of Flat-bred three-year-olds on winter jumping ground would probably not be the best guide, and is certainly not my idea of a betting heat, and the following Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase (1.15) over 1m7½f is more like it.

I have no doubt that Ballybreeze is well handicapped, but the cat is out of the bag on that score after he came in for strong support for a much better race at Cheltenham last month, only to unseat at the first.

If he gets it right he's going to be the one to beat, but that's two non-completions in a row, and you don't need many more excuses to look elsewhere.

In fairness, it doesn't appear that getting from one side to the other is an issue for Ballybreeze as he crumpled on landing having not touched a twig when coming down at Market Rasen, and he seemed to jump cleanly enough at Cheltenham only to land awkwardly and throw Robbie Dunne off.

Still, this is not a bad race, and Gary Moore, no stranger to success at Sandown, has two viable alternatives in Kotmask and Hudson De Grugy.

I'd be a little worried about Kotmask's jumping on this track given the way he cleared the fences on occasions in victory at Plumpton, so Hudson De Grugy, a three-time winner at Sandown when the ground has been soft or worse, would be preferred of that pair.

At bigger odds, however, Fast Buck makes some appeal. He blew the cobwebs away when last of five behind Rubaud in a race he was not remotely suited to at Kempton on his return, and he shaped better when third over this course and distance last month, albeit having no answer to the front two.

Fast Buck was beaten only a length by the well-handicapped Third Time Lucki on good to soft ground here in February off a 2lb higher mark than he is on now, so he certainly handles the course well enough, while the time before, on the softest ground he has encountered since joining Jane Williams, he ran out a ten-length winner from Galop De Chasse, a horse now rated 11lb higher.

The nine-year-old remains well handicapped on his past form for Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton, and while no doubt not as good as he was, his mark is 20lb below that peak.

You could also make a case for plenty in the Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase (3.00) over 3m, not least Planned Paradise, who was second in last year's London National at the track and was backed at big odds for Saturday's 2023 version early in the week by punters who will no doubt be disappointed to see him line up here.

He does look an out-and-out stayer so may not yet have reached peak fitness after a distant fifth at Ascot, and preference is for Animal.

Suzy Smith's seven-year-old threw in a couple of stinkers last term, including on his final start, but he was progressive on the whole, and saved his best for three miles on a right-handed track (Kempton) on soft ground in March, winning by seven lengths.

He remains 5lb higher, but ran a race full of promise on his return when second to a chase debutant who was very nicely treated on hurdles form over a trip just too short. This stiffer test looks likely to prove right up his alley.

Henderson's Immortal, beaten at a short price at Ascot on his return from wind operation number two (after just two runs), will likely again be a warm order for the closing Betfair Racing Podcasts Novices' Handicap Hurdle (3.35), but Magical King makes some appeal despite top weight.

He was beaten just under two lengths by Josh The Boss at Aintree last time, and the winner's owner has big targets for that one, who runs in the Grade 2 Winter Novices' Hurdle at 1.50, with Grade 1s at Newbury (Challow) and his beloved Aintree (Mersey) mentioned.

If Josh The Boss does prove to be a proper Graded horse a mark of 118 will surely look tidy for Magical King, and early quotes of 12-1 will prove well wide of the mark.

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