Gavin Sheehan: Two decent chances at Sandown ahead of Festival frenzy

It’s very much been the calm before the storm with a slow pre-Cheltenham week this week. I managed to get a couple of days off to enjoy the sun and the longer evenings, and for the first time got to think about getting back on the golf course. The ground's getting quicker, the season's nearing the end and summer will soon be on its way.

Obviously, we’ve got Cheltenham next week and I’m excited as a fan as much as anything else, it’s the best week of racing with the best horses and it can't be beaten. Unfortunately, I won’t be there riding on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I’ve got some good chances on Thursday and Friday, and I’ll have enough butterflies on those days to make up for the rest of the week.

Before Cheltenham though, I’ve got a couple of good chances at Sandown that will be shown on ITV and have points available.

The first is Laurens Bay (1.50) for Jamie Snowden. I really love this horse, and he’s tailormade for Sandown, but it’s not going to be straightforward for him. It’s a big field in a very hot race, and that means he’ll need a lot of luck to go his way. He makes life quite hard work for me as he just doesn’t travel and go forward, he’s always that bit behind the bridle so it makes things more difficult. As I say, though, he’s a really nice horse and I do love him - if he travels better then he has a good chance because his form is very good.

I also ride A Path To Ronda (3.00) who won on her debut at Uttoxeter back in December under James Davies. I was schooling with James at Jo Davis’s on Friday morning so had a chance to speak with him about that race. He thought she was a really nice horse and liked her. She looked to me like a strong traveller and stayed on well so with a bit of improvement she should be in the mix here.