Our experts agree on the one horse to take out of Sandown's Classic Trial

Sandown's Group 3 bet365 Classic Trial was won in shock style by 25-1 shot Alenquer, who bravely held off the Godolphin-owned pair of Adayar and Yibir. For our experts, though, there is only one horse they're interested in coming out of the race.

'It would take a brave punter to get involved'

I'm pretty sure that we didn't see the 2021 Derby winner today but the horse who shaped with most promise with Epsom in mind was Adayar, who was one of very few to close from off the pace.

The Charlie Appleby-trained son of Frankel stuck on pluckily towards the centre of the track and made eventual winner Alenquer pull out all the stops in the closing stages. He has plenty of stamina on both sides of his pedigree and should relish the extra couple of furlongs come June.

Nevertheless, the form doesn't look overly strong and it would take a brave punter to get involved with any of the runners in the Classic Trial when others have shaped far better this campaign or as juveniles.
Tom Collins, tipster

'A mile and a half will bring out improvement'

Second-place Adayar is the one I'll be taking out of the race. Of the first three home, Alenquer and Yibir were disputing the lead turning for home and stayed there with Adayar the only one to make notable headway up the straight to stay on and take second.

Adayar (right): finished strongest of all in the Classic TrialCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

He was not necessarily finishing fast but staying on strongly, suggesting going over a mile and a half will bring out even more improvement.

It was eyecatching and encouraging, though, particularly given it was only his third start. The first and third also had previous experience of running at a fairly high level, so the lightly raced Adayar should learn a lot for this experience too.
James Stevens, reporter

'I'd look more towards the Irish Derby'

The first, third, fourth and fifth were in prominent positions throughout with the eventual second, Adayar, coming from much further behind to finish a close second.

Horses coming from off the pace struggled to get involved all day at Sandown so his performance can be marked up considerably.

I thought he was the best-looking colt in the paddock and although his size could count against him at an idiosyncratic track like Epsom, a mile and a half should bring about some improvement.

If he were mine I think I'd look more towards the Irish Derby at the Curragh given the likely quality of opposition at Epsom – I'm not convinced he'd be good enough to beat those at this stage.
Maddy Playle, RPTV

Read more from Friday's racing:

'I'm very excited' – Dettori buzzing as Palace Pier makes flawless return

25-1 shock in Classic Trial as Alenquer gets the verdict for Haggas and Marquand

Trainer 'blindsided' by massive gamble on two horses owned by same syndicate

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