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The aptly-named King Of The Sand has yet to race on a synthetic surface, of any kind, but makes his Polytrack debut in the Bet in Play at Totesport.com Handicap (6.15) at Chelmsford on Tuesday evening. The Footstepsinthesand gelding was a promising juvenile, making all to win a novice median auction stakes race at Brighton unchallenged, by 4½ lengths, on just his third start.

However, he was beaten favourite in a novice stakes race on his three-year-old debut at Epsom in April and subsequently only ninth of ten, beaten 8 lengths, on his handicap debut at Sandown the following month. He was subsequently gelded and, after a 129-break, eased down in the closing stages to finish well beaten, on soft going, at Goodwood in October. He should be all the better for that run, his first since June, and, having been dropped 5lb in the weights, looks leniently treated on his form as a two-year-old.

West Sussex trainer Gary Moore doesn’t run that many three-year-olds at Chelmsford, but has a fairly healthy 6-29 (21%) strike rate with that age group at the Essex track over the years, so King Of The Sand looks worth chancing in a race where recent winning form in short supply. His moderate form so far this year, coupled with the fact that he’s untried on the surface, not to mention stepping up in distance, should ensure that he’s sent off at a shade of odds. Even so, he may be able to show some fully exposed, ordinary rivals a clean pair of heels, in a style in keeping with his name.

Selection: Chelmsford 6.15 King Of The Sand to win

In the 188Bet Casino Handicap (8.15) at Newcastle on Wednesday evening, Pickett’s Charge is 4lb higher in the weights than when second in a 0-80 apprentice handicap at York last month but, back on Tapeta and eased slightly in grade, may be able to regain the winning thread. Brian Ellison’s five-year-old had previously completed a hat-trick, including a course and distance win in June, and has recorded three of his five career wins on the Tapeta surface at High Gosforth Park.

The Clodovil gelding is on a career-high mark, but his York effort was arguably his best yet and he looks far from impossibly handicapped, especially with talented apprentice Ben Robinson taking off 3lb. Twin Appeal, who finished fourth at York, won a similar race to this one at Beverley next time out, so the form looks solid enough and Pickett’s Charge appears to be holding his form well. Stepping back up to a mile should prove no hindrance and he can, hopefully, provided another winner for the North Yorkshire trainer, who already has a healthy 9-38 (24%) strike rate with his older horses at Wolverhampton this season, for an equally healthy level stakes profit of 28.16 points.

Selection: Newcastle 8.15 Pickett’s Charge to win 9/2

In the Smarkets Fortune Stakes (3.15) at Sandown on Wednesday, Zhui Feng has finished last on both starts at Ascot since making all to beat three rivals in a similar race at Windsor in June, but Sandown lends itself well to his customary forcing style and it’s actually slightly surprising that he hasn’t been tried over a mile here before.

The horse that he beat at Windsor, Oh This Is Us, has been in the form of his life recently, winning a handicap over 7½ furlongs at Chester in convincing style and failing by a neck and short-head to overhaul Mutashry and D’bai in the Group 2 Park Stakes at Doncaster on Saturday, while the third, Gabrial, also won a small conditions stakes race at Epsom on his next start. The form definitely looks much better than it did at the time and, although Zhui Feng needs to stage a revival, having failed to beat a single one of his last 28 rivals, he finish only twenty-fifth of 30 prior to winning at Windsor and has been an ‘all or nothing’ sort for most of his career.

I dare say he’s been called a few choice names in his time, but granted that consistency isn’t his strong suit, his career record of five wins from twenty-six races is all the more creditably. Three of his four wins on turf have come on good to firm going, but the other came on good to soft so, with a settled forecast for Esher over the next day or two, he should have underfoot conditions to his liking. He’s drawn in stall five of nine, but any bias in the draw at Sandown is only slight, especially in a single-figure field, so hopefully he’ll put his put foot forward on this occasion.

Selection: Sandown 3.15 Zhui Feng to win 8/1