Racing: Accolade has flair to take the honours in Solario

The Solario Stakes at Sandown today is not usually a race to go nosing about in to find a subsequent Classic victor – Oh So Sharp, the 1984 winner, was the last horse to do so – yet this afternoon's Group Three contest is replete with the most promising of two-year-olds.

A field of 13 will go to post, including animals trained at the notable establishments of Messrs Gosden, Loder, Hannon and Hills, but the most eyecatching is a colt sent out by a man we normally see knocking snow off his boots.

Salsalino is the first runner in a Group race for Alan King, formerly king of the Jackdaws Castle and now the monarch at the Barbury equivalent in Wiltshire.

Salsalino has enjoyed two starts to date, both over six furlongs, finishing third to subsequent Prix Morny second Zafeen on his debut at Salisbury and then returning to his local course to beat Sheriff Shift by three-quarters of a length to provide King with his first two-year-old winner. The runner-up has since boosted the form in victory at Thirsk.

"Both Salisbury races are working out and he seems to be progressing well," the trainer said yesterday. "Obviously we are a bit in the dark from my point of view but we'll give it a go. I think seven furlongs will suit him. The first thing his jockey Tony Clark said last time was step him up, it will be a help to him."

The Barbury Castle trainer has been pleasantly surprised the way his Flat horses have performed this season. "It's something different," King added. "It's an experiment this year and we've been very pleased with it. The lads get a tremendous buzz out of it."

Paul D'Arcy's Indian Haven has already run in decent company and will be out to make amends for an unlucky run at York last time. He finished sixth, beaten around five lengths, in the Group Two Gimcrack Stakes on the Knavesmire after being badly hampered three furlongs out.

"It was a very unlucky run at York and once Kieren [Fallon] got knocked over he looked after the horse and accepted it," the Newmarket trainer said yesterday. "He has been very good since York and seven furlongs tomorrow shouldn't be a problem on his pedigree."

With a proper herd to fight out the race a good pace is virtually assured, a factor which ultimately leads us to Richard Hannon's HIGH ACCOLADE (nap 3.10). He was the winner of a decent Newbury maiden and possesses the sort of middle distance pedigree which will hold him in good stead up the Sandown hill this afternoon. His trainer possesses a good pedigree in the race itself, having won it for the last two years with King's Ironbridge and Redback.

The preceding Atalanta Stakes will see support for Henry Cecil's Granadilla, who has been spotted working well on Newmarket's Long Hill recently, but again it looks to be the population in the race which is a determining factor. With just six runners to consider, Mamounia (next best 2.40) will be allowed to dominate and has strong possibilities of making all.

Those who have 5-2 vouchers under the mattress about Russian Rhythm for next year's 1,000 Guineas will not be able to resist a peek at the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh tomorrow. Danaskaya, who was runner-up to Michael Stoute's filly in the Lowther Stakes at York, takes on Aidan O'Brien's Reach For The Moon.

Now that the surgeon's masks are down at Ballydoyle, the latter has been made favourite to follow up the recent successes of the yard's Sequoyah and Quarter Moon. Hopes of a British success lie with Mick Channon's Mail The Desert and the John Gosden-trained Pearl Dance.

The visitors are even more strongly represented in the Group Two Flying Five, with Sir Mark Prescott running Danehurst, Lady Dominatrix representing Nerys Dutfield and James Given hoping Jessica's Dream can reverse Goodwood placings with local hope Agnetha. The Godolphin caravans again roll through Europe tomorrow when Marienbard bids for his second German Group One victory in a row in the Grosser Preis von Baden.

The five-year-old, the only British challenger in the £580,000 contest, beat Yavana's Pace by a length and a half in the Deutschland-Preis at Dusseldorf last month in the hands of Frankie Dettori and will once again be ridden by the Italian at Baden-Baden. Kieren Fallon will be reunited with Boreal, on whom he won the Coronation Cup, in the mile and a half event.