Can Metier return with a valuable handicap win?

3.35 Sandown Betfair Daily Rewards December Handicap Hurdle 2m Listed 4yo+ ITV4/RTV

Card and Spotlight, page 75

ALMOST everyone, whether holding an interest in horseracing or not, will at some point have come across the phrase ‘horses for courses’. But does this old adage really carry any weight?

The truth is that some tracks naturally lend themselves to specialists more than others and last-time-out winners at Sandown have fared quite well when returning to the track.

Over jumps since the start of 2011, there have been 82 Sandown winners who returned to the Esher venue for their next start and 19 were successful again. That is a 23 per cent strike-rate.

That bodes well for Hudson De Grugy, who was one of those 19 winners when recording back-to-back wins here last season, and he landed a third course-anddistance victory last time.

Hudson De Grugy has actually had four of his five runs in Britain at Sandown and was second the sole time he was beaten. He is the epitome of a course specialist.

He isn’t the only one who likes Sandown in this line-up, though. Metier (right) was scintillating when running away with the Tolworth Hurdle over course and distance last January and returns to Esher having run only once since when well beaten at the Cheltenham Festival.

Benson also produced his career-best effort over course and distance when winning this race last year. He is 8lb higher and that victory was achieved on heavy going.

Interestingly, Metier also won his Tolworth on heavy ground and ran the course and distance nearly four seconds quicker than Benson under the same conditions. However, Benson’s race had 20 yards added and he was less than a second slower on standards. It’s tough to compare the two wins, so we’ll just have to wait and see. One thing is for sure: course form could be key.

Fry hoping rain arrives for Tolworth winner

Metier, who took last season’s Tolworth Hurdle by 12 lengths, returns to the scene of his Grade 1 triumph as he bids to regain the winning thread after finishing a disappointing seventh in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

Harry Fry is hoping for overnight rain for the fiveyear-old’s first foray into handicap company, with Sam Twist onDavies taking over in the saddle for the first time.

Fry said: “We’ve been waiting for conditions to ease underfoot. We’re hoping for plenty of overnight rain. He’s in good form at home and ready to get his season under way.

“He won the Tolworth over course and distance, but this is a different challenge in a handicap hurdle off a mark of 144. It will tell us plenty about which direction we go for the rest of the season.”

What they say Richard Newland, trainer of Benson

We’re really looking forward to running him as he seems to go quite well at Sandown. It’ll be different ground for him, but he’s in good form and he ran well enough on his first run back at Cheltenham.

Gary Moore, trainer of Hudson De Grugy and Natural History

I was surprised how Hudson De Grugy won the last day, but I think he’d have to improve on what he did there. He’s not the fastest horse in the world and he’s got his fair share of weight for a four-year-old. Natural History is a bit of an enigma. What happened at Fontwell I don’t know, he just ran no race. If he does something like that again it’d be a waste of time him running, but if he doesn’t he should have a reasonable chance because I think he’s better than his mark. Adam West, trainer of Thibault

He never runs a bad race and is genuine. Last year when we ran him at Sandown the trip sort of found him out at two and a half miles. A little bit more juice in the ground and a drop back to two miles should suit him perfectly.

Lucy Wadham, trainer of Miss Heritage

She’ll come on for her run at Ascot. We could have done with some rain as she thrives on very soft ground and I don’t think we’re going to get what we want.