Sanitiser and Danville finish first and second for London & The South

Photo credit: Helen Edwards

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London & The South team boosted their chances of winning the Racing League by taking maximum points in a race at Windsor last Thursday.

Team manager Matt Chapman, the racing presenter, roared with delight as 15/2 shot Sanitiser, ridden by Sean Levey, and Danville, the mount of Nicola Currie, took the first two places in the 1m 2f handicap.

Although it was their only win of the evening, Chapman’s team established a 48-point lead over Wales & The West to 48 points with four of the six rounds completed.

Levey remains the leading jockey by some distance over Saffie Osborne, but as jockeys are restricted to 20 rides in the league, he has only three rides remaining. He also took second place on 15/8 favourite Majestic in the second mile race of the meeting, losing out by a head to 9/4 chance That’s Just Dandy, who gave Irish trainer Jessica Harrington and young rider Dylan Browne McManagle a win on their first visit to Windsor.

Wales & The West, managed by Lambourn trainer Jamie Osborne, added to their points tally by winning the five-furlong race with 15/8 favourite Safari Dream, trained by Rod Millman and ridden by Neil Callan.

The North did not have much luck in the previous three rounds, so were delighted to record a double with Vintage Clarets (12/1) and Wootton’Sun (9/1), both sent down from Richard Fahey’s North Yorkshire yard. Managed by former soccer star Mick Quinn, The North move up to fourth place in the league table.

There was also a brace for The East who sit third in the league. Lir Speciale (11/.4 favourite) won the 6f handicap with Ray Dawson’s mount completing a very successful day for trainer Roger Varian, who had earlier seen Sakheer and Eximious record impressive wins at Haydock and Salisbury respectively. The team’s other win came from Croupier (11/1), with Luke Morris riding for Simon & Ed Crisford, in the one-mile three-year-old handicap.

The general feeling by the TV presenters was that the atmosphere at Windsor was the best of the four league meetings so far. The two remainings are at Southwell and Newcastle.