'This looks a good spot for him' - Navello bids for four-timer in National

Coral "Beaten By A Length" National Stakes (Listed) | 5f | 2yo | RTV

Forget those images of brilliantly quick fillies Lyric Fantasy and Tiggy Wiggy waltzing home in this pre-Royal Ascot trial. Soft ground is likely to make it as much a test of stamina as speed.

That makes it a new challenge for Navello, who has played a full part in George Boughey's amazing start to the two-year-old season by rattling up a hat-trick at Wolverhampton, Brighton and Chester – all tracks where pace is key.

That is not to say the colt, who is clear top on Racing Post Ratings, will necessarily be outstayed. And his Chester win on good to soft ground suggests he could well cope with underfoot conditions.

But one reason he has recorded the best RPR in this field is that he has had more chances than the rest and plenty of the others have the scope to improve to his level – which would not have been good enough to win this in eight of the last ten years.

Brocklesby Stakes winner Chipotle followed up at Ascot and looks a thoroughly professional juvenile, while we can only guess at the ability of Choux after she landed a monster gamble at Thirsk first time out.

Fellow Thirsk winner Hotline Bling commands respect as she hails from the Richard Hannon yard, which gave us Lyric Fantasy and Tiggy Wiggy and has won this 12 times in total.

But a northern trainer has won this in three of the last four years, and do not underestimate the chances of Bryan Smart’s Bond Chairman continuing that trend.

Smart has long started his best 5f juveniles off at Musselburgh, which he regards as an ideal testing ground, and Bond Chairman did everything asked of him when scoring smoothly there on his debut last month.

The 120,000gns yearling is open to plenty of improvement, and is only the third horse Smart has deemed worth sending to Sandown in the last five years.

What they say

Bryan Smart, trainer of Bond Chairman
I was delighted with him first time, but there are horses in the race with good form on soft ground and it's our first shot on it. If he doesn't handle it we'll know not to run on it.

Eve Johnson Houghton, trainer of Chipotle
He continues to improve. I don't know if he's good enough, but he's done nothing wrong and deserves to go for it. I'm a little bit worried about the ground and wouldn't want it too testing.

Hugo Palmer, trainer of Ebro River
This is a step up and he was still quite green when he won a bad race at Doncaster, but that second race has brought him forward. Provided he doesn't get trouble in running he’s got quite a favourable draw and we know he goes on the ground.

Richard Hannon, trainer of Hotline Bling
His first run was encouraging and his second run was also pretty good. He might like the ground and the stiff five furlongs. This race has been lucky for us and we hope he'll run a big race.

George Boughey, trainer of Navello
He's progressive and this looks a good spot for him before Ascot. He's won impressively on soft ground and it looks as though we'll get that at Sandown. I always thought he'd get further, but he seems to be getting faster in his work and he'll stay at five furlongs for the moment.

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