Friday tips: Alex Scott is taking on all three Group race favourites at Sandown

King Of Cities can start his four-year-old campaign with a victory for his new trainer Karl Burke.

A half-brother to Inisherin, he is out of the high-class middle-distance performer Ajman Princess, who failed to win at three but progressed with age, winning the Prix Jean Romanet at four.

Last season, this horse was deemed good enough by his previous handler Richard Hannon to contest the Prix du Jockey Club on his second start of the campaign, and though he disappointed, he was only beaten four lengths by Camille Pissarro. 

His defeat behind Opera Ballo at the July meeting was a creditable effort, as was his third at Goodwood where the fast mile seemed to be on the sharp side for him. Stepped up in trip for a hot Strensall Stakes at York on his next start, he produced a career best, defeating subsequent Cambridgeshire winner Boling Point by a head.

He came unstuck in the soft ground at Longchamp on his final start of the campaign but this return to faster ground will suit much better and his yard have begun the campaign in fine form. Ryan Moore takes the ride, and I expect him to be bang there.

Field Of Gold will be hard to beat here if he is back to the brilliance we saw in the late spring/early summer of last year, but he is worth taking on at the current prices given he has been comfortably defeated on his two most recent starts.

The one that makes most appeal is Opera Ballo, who has been brought along steadily by Charlie Appleby and arrives here off the back of two impressive victories at Meydan over the winter, including when lading his first Group One in the Jebel Hatta last time out.

He has work to do with the market leader, plus Zeus Olympios from when they last met in September, but just like his sire did, Opera Ballo can take a step forward as a four-year-old and continue his recent progression.

A winner over course and distance here last spring, the stiff mile on fast ground will be right up his street and the 7-1 at the time of writing looks too big.

This looks more competitive that the market probably suggests, although Action is a worthy favourite after chasing home Hawk Mountain in the Futurity Trophy in October.

Being a half-brother to Lambourn, Aidan O’Brien’s charge ought to improve for this step up in trip too, but having yet to score outside of maiden company, he is not unbeatable, and another at juicier odds that will love this longer distance is the beautifully-bred Raaheeb.

A full-brother to Baaeed and Hukum, the once-raced Owen Burrows-trained colt has already managed to do something neither of his illustrious siblings managed to do which was win over seven furlongs at two.

He travelled well on the soft ground at Ascot, winning readily, and in his recent chat with Graham Clark for the Racing TV Stable Tour, his traine said: “Jim felt at Ascot that he was a mile and a quarter, mile and a half horse.”

Owen Burrows has a 33% strike rate at Sandown over the past five years with a level stakes profit of +£15.33. This faster ground should be no problem and he can lay down an early Classic market and remain unbeaten.