Sallaal part of strong line-up for Sandown feature

Roger Varian is keen to see if Sallaal can register a hat-trick when he steps back into Listed company for a “deceptively strong” Sporting Times Sri Lanka Fortune Stakes at Sandown on Wednesday.

A soft-ground winner at Yarmouth on his only start at two, the son of Frankel – who is a half-brother to Group One star Benbatl and the trainer’s 1000 Guineas heroine Elmalka – was held on his return to the track in the Listed Newmarket Stakes in the spring.

However, since then he has returned to winning ways with a pair of commanding victories at Hamilton in the early part of summer, and after a deliberate break, now seeks to further enhance his reputation in a race Varian won with subsequent Queen Elizabeth II Stakes victor Bayside Boy in 2022.

“It’s an interesting little race and it’s been our intention to run here for a while,” said Varian, who could hardly know the family better, with Sallaal’s dam, Nahrain, being the first Group One winner of his career.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s lightly raced, but he’s one we’ve always liked and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on.

“He’s in good form and I think he’s improving and now he has to prove he can go on soft ground. I think it’s a deceptively strong race so we will learn a bit more about him.”

Only six go to post for the one-mile event in Esher with Sallaal’s chief danger appearing Ralph Beckett’s Chantilly Lace after some solid efforts in deep waters this term.

Charlie Hills’ Cicero’s Gift is a course-and-distance winner who finished ahead of Varian’s highly regarded My Cloud when second in the Prix Quincey at Deauville, while James Fanshawe’s Pina Sonata came unstuck in her first try in Group One company on the Normandy Coast but remains both exciting and lightly raced.

Ollie Sangster’s track winner Celestial Orbit and Eve Johnson Houghton’s Balmacara complete the field.