Milnerton veteran Eric Sands won his first Met last year with Rainbow Bridge and bids for a double on Saturday.
Eric Sands (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
His previous best is a playback from way back! Karl Neisius, who piloted Grand Jete for Eric Sands at his best previous result when second in the 2002 Met, turned 63 on Monday.
So is Rainbow Bridge ready and did he not have a hard race in the Queen’s Plate?
“He got caught in the front with Hawwaam and they were fighting head to head for about 600m so it was a great effort for him to still stay on for third. So we had to ease back on him a little after the race, but he has now come well, I am very happy with him,” said Sands in a report.
Rainbow Bridge rider Ryan Moore was in Florida last Saturday to ride in the Pegasus World Cup, where he finished second on the Aidan O’Brien-trained Magic Wand, he then finished second on Monday on the KW Lui-trained More Than This in the Hong Kong Classic Mile at Sha Tin’s big Chinese New Year meeting, and was riding work in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday ahead of the US$20 Million Saudi Cup on 29 February.
There is no certainty as to whether Moore will get an opportunity to sit on Rainbow Bridge before Saturday.
Sands believes there will be a fair pace in the Met.
He identified Twist Of Fate as a horse who had run his best races when going strongly up with the pace and mentioned Head Honcho as another who liked to be right up there.
He added, “We are drawn outside of both of them too.”
He said he could not see either of those horses setting a very fast pace but felt there would at least be an honest pace.
Rainbow Bridge has a fine draw of five and Twist Of fate and Head Honcho are drawn three and four respectively.
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