Horse Racing

Workforce. Pic: John Walton/Empics
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Workforce aiming to turn up heat at Sandown Park

By Richard Spiller
May 25, 2012

WORKFORCE will be out to defend his Betfair Brigadier Gerard crown as Sandown Park gets ready to launch its evening season on Thursday (May 31).

All the jumpers and sensible coats have been packed away – for the time being – since the downpours which greeted Gold Cup day last month.

The Esher course reckon they can offer the ideal mix of high quality racing with the unique English summer atmosphere and a racecard worth £180,000 in prize money looks enticing.

Workforce had mixed fortunes at Sandown last year, winning the May race but giving second best to So You Think in the Coral-Eclipse when Ryan Moore had to follow home Seamie Heffernan.

The Brigadier Gerard Stakes is joined by another group three contest in the Henry II Stakes and racegoers who like to add in some food and drink to their evening’s entertainment can invest in a 'summer sizzler' ticket, costing £25, which includes admission and a £10 voucher to be redeemed at a variety of stalls and facilities within Sandown Park with a £10 betting voucher booklet plus a racecard.

Further information and booking can be made by calling Sandown Park on 01372 470047 or via www.sandown.co.uk. The meeting starts at 6.15pm with the sixth and final race at 8.55pm, while another evening meeting comes just seven days later on June 7.

Irish Day will be the next big day at Sandown on June 16, when top jockeys from both sides of the Irish Sea will be fighting it out for the honours and the Emerald Isle flavour to the racing should be enhanced by Celtic band Rollercoaster afterwards in the second half of a two-day meeting.

All that paves the way for Ladies Day on July 6 and Coral-Eclipse Day 24 hours later, one of the highlights of the flat season in the UK, while the music nights later in the summer include Tom Jones on Wednesday, July 18.