Tom Collins on Montatham's chances as he returns to a familar hunting ground

2.25 Sandown
Coral Challenge Handicap | 1m | 3yo+ | ITV/RTV

This handicap has everything – a former Group 1 winner, several improving milers that exit competitive Royal Ascot contests, last year's winner bidding to defy top weight and an intriguing clash between the leading riders in Britain and apprentice Adam Farragher.

Cork native Farragher has landed a red-letter ride on Montatham. Trainer William Haggas clearly believes his 5lb claim could be the key ingredient for further Sandown success.

Montatham, an eyecatching grey who boasts a rating of 109 and carries topweight of 9st 10lb, began last season in fine form and entered this race as the warm 6-5 favourite after finishing a close-up second to Dark Vision in the Royal Hunt Cup. A 3lb swing in the weights between the two was enough to leave Sandown punters walking away with a grin on their face.

Montatham (far side) just gets the better of Dark Vision in a thrilling Coral Challenge at SandownCredit: Mark Cranham

He will not be nearing even-money in this year's edition as he bids to retain his crown given the bigger field. However, Montatham ticks plenty of boxes and rates the horse to beat after an encouraging third on his reappearance in Listed company at Doncaster.

Nine of his 13 rivals were last seen gracing the Royal Ascot turf, though none got within hailing distance in their respective races. Magical Morning and Trais Fluors struggled against the stands' side in the Royal Hunt Cup, while Beat Le Bon ran an encouraging fifth in the same race behind the runaway winner, Real World. Better efforts will be needed to win here.

Pythagoras, the sole three-year-old in the line-up, is of more interest following his strong-travelling display in the Golden Gates Handicap. He could not quicken as well as others in that 1m2f contest but a 9lb weight-for-age allowance may swing things in his favour.

The pace may come from the Mark Johnston-trained pair of Marie's Diamond and Maydanny. Situated in the widest stalls (13 and 14 respectively), aggressive tactics are necessary to get a promising position before the first bend looms. Both hold realistic claims on their best form but have posted below-par performances so far this term.
Race analysis by Tom Collins

Big day for Farragher

Montatham bids to repeat his win of a year ago in the feature handicap but this time must race off a 9lb higher mark, offset by the claim of William Haggas’s new apprentice Adam Farragher.

The 5lb claimer rode 20 winners in his native Ireland before joining the Newmarket trainer last month and nearly struck on his first ride for Haggas when Sweet Believer was denied by a neck at Newmarket on June 18.

Farragher has had a further eight rides since without success but Montatham looks to have a big chance of getting him on the board at the tenth time of asking after some sparkling work on the home gallops.

The 21-year-old, who also has a high-profile ride for Haggas in the following Coral Distaff, said: "It's a nice ride to get and thanks to Mr Haggas and the team for everything they've done setting me up over here. Montatham is a fine big horse who you can probably mark up for his last run as he was a bit fresh.

"I've sat on him at home since then and hopefully he can go close. I've hit the crossbar a couple of times already and it would be nice to hit the back of the net in front of the ITV cameras."

What they say

William Haggas, trainer of Montatham
He's been off but he's fine now and is in good form. He's got a lot of weight to carry and it's probably going to be too much for him as it's hard for horses to win off that kind of rating.

Saeed bin Suroor, trainer of Bedouin's Story
He was drawn on the wrong side at Royal Ascot where he was stuck in behind a wall of horses for much of the race so he didn't get involved. He came out of that in good shape as he didn't have much of a race.

Mike Prince, spokesperson for Middleham Park Racing, owners of Marie's Diamond
It's his first time in a handicap so hopefully he can take advantage but he's badly drawn and we may have to ride him differently. Hopefully they don't get any rain overnight as he needs fast ground.

Richard Hannon, trainer of Beat Le Bon
His last three runs have been very good including in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot last time and a reproduction of that would give him every chance here. The stiff uphill finish will really suit and this is a good prize to aim at.

Beat Le Bon: ran well in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot last timeCredit: Mark Cranham

Thady Gosden, joint-trainer of Magical Morning
He ran well for a long way in the Hunt Cup, which was his first run in a while, and has come out of that in great shape. He won't mind any overnight rain if there is any.

Oisin Murphy, rider of Trais Fluors
He was disappointing at Ascot but he'd won well at Sandown before that so we have hope coming back to the course and distance. He's up 5lb from that win here, which makes life difficult for him, and the one I fear above all others is Magical Morning.

Hugo Palmer, trainer of Acquitted
He's nicely drawn in stall two and ran very well when second over seven furlongs at Chelmsford last time. The handicapper has put him up for that which makes things tougher but he's working well at home.
Reporting by David Milnes

Saturday's big-race previews:

The Saturday Jury: 'He has a very good chance' – jockey Sean Levey on his weekend prospects (Members' Club)

1.50 Sandown: is Arecibo a good thing? Graeme Rodway on what the Ascot sectionals tell us

2.05 Haydock: Dhushan seeking a hat-trick for William Haggas in red-hot three-year-old handicap

2.40 Haydock: 'I don't think she's ever trained better' – George Boughey on his Oaks runner-up

3.15 Haydock: Graeme Rodway on why we could be seeing a different kind of Sir Mark Prescott plot

3.35 Sandown: big-name trainers on their Group 1 contenders in the Coral-Eclipse this Saturday

3.35 Sandown: why this Eclipse could show us a champion – just not the one you might think (Members' Club)

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