The Fast Lane

[Wandering Eyes]

There will be no quarter given in Saturday’s G2 Armstrong Aggregates Sandy Lane S. at Haydock, with the best of the British sprinting 3-year-olds in attendance and barely a length between five of them along with a “dark horse” of considerable intrigue in Barraquero (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}). Not seen again after his success in testing ground in the G2 Qatar Richmond S. over this six-furlong trip at Glorious Goodwood in August, Manton Thoroughbreds’s bearer of the famed Sangster silks will have to be exceptional to deal with the race-fit high-class trio of Sands of Mali (Fr) (Panis), Invincible Army (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}). Barraquero’s trainer Brian Meehan is never one to dwell on negatives when he has a good one. “I’m excited. He is in great form,” he said. “He is such a super character and he has got a wonderful temperament. I don’t want it to be too firm up there, but it sounds like there is plenty of rain about. He is in great form and all roads lead to Royal Ascot, really. There was probably nowhere else to go with him before now.”

Sands of Mali’s 2 3/4-length defeat of Invincible Army when making all in York’s G2 Gimcrack S. in August is probably the benchmark performance here and he was able to give six pounds to the subsequent G3 Prix Texanita scorer Alistair (Fr) (Panis) in the G3 Prix Sigy at Chantilly Apr. 13. Last year’s G2 Mill Reef S. winner James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) holds Invincible Army on that form and returned to win the G3 Greenham S. over seven furlongs at Newbury Apr. 21 before running a sound race in seventh in the G1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket three weeks ago. “We have been really pleased with him since the Guineas,” trainer George Scott commented. “Always in the back of our minds was that he might be a sprinter rather than a miler, but he won one of the most important trials so we had to give it a go and he wasn’t disgraced at all. I think he will be more comfortable back at six furlongs, but this is a ripper of a race and anyone could win it.”

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