Weekend Review: Tidal Bay surges to Sandown success

The Sandown Gold Cup looked wide open beforehand but proved anything but, with the Paul Nicholls-trained Tidal Bay proving a class apart. Gaining a first win since taking the Cleeve Hurdle in 2010, Tidal Bay jumped and travelled impressively, cruising through to track runner-up Roalco de Farges with consummate ease before sprinting away after the final fence to win by 15 lengths. Despite being 11-years-old the performance was as good as any Tidal Bay has put up in his career, and he reportedly may now head to Auteuil for the Grande Course de Haies in June.

Roalco de Farges ran an excellent race in defeat, travelling well and making rapid headway at the thirteenth before being set back by a blunder two fences later. He recovered to beat the rest comprehensively, but he had no answer to the acceleration shown by the winner in the closing stages.

Tidal Bay's win provided a double for Nicholls, as earlier on the card Sanctuaire fairly demolished his rivals in the Grade 2 Celebration Chase. On just his third start over fences, having impressively won his previous two, Sanctuaire's round of jumping could hardly have been more striking as he had no trouble in maintaining a lead of around 15 lengths from before halfway without any real difficulty. There are doubts as to the value of the form with the ground conditions soft and the potential for his opponents to have ran below form, but there is no question that Sanctuaire has taken extremely well to the larger obstacles and could go further still, with the Tingle Creek being his first target next season.

Switching to the Flat, but remaining at Sandown, the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes was won by the John Gosden-trained Colombian. Unfortunately, the race is likely to be worth little in form terms due to the particularly testing ground, with the front two (the second being Poet) having previously won on soft or heavy. Whether either can prove as good under more conventional conditions is up for debate, but the run of Twice Over in third can easily be excused given that he had never previously encountered going worse than good to soft.

Just four runners went to post for the Classic Trial but it could hardly have proved more intriguing, as Joseph O'Brien steered eventual winner Imperial Monarch on an unconventionally wide route, conceding plenty of ground to his rivals in search of more favourable underfoot conditions. Regardless of any ground advantage he may have had, it was all positive as far as Imperial Monarch is concerned, doing well to quicken up on his own down the stands side. He clearly has Group 1 potential and, given that a mile and a half will suit him all the more, he is now trading at 17.533/2 for the Derby on June 2.

The second-placed Thought Worthy, a brother to St Leger winner Lucarno, will also be suited step up in trip, and had the two horses that raced with him, namely Rougemont and Stipulate, beaten two furlongs out. He has only raced on testing ground in his two starts, but is too early to be saying that he requires it.

On the international front this weekend, the scintillating Black Caviar gained her twentieth consecutive success when taking the Robert Sangster Stakes at Morphettville on Saturday, easily defeating nine rivals in what was little more than a workout. For more on her latest success, read Gary Crispe's piece "Robert Sangster Stakes review: Caviar stands alone".

Moving on to Sunday, where Kissed enhanced her Oaks claims when running away with the listed Salsabil Stakes at Navan. A close relation to 2011 Derby winner Pour Moi who made a winning debut, also at Navan, in October last year, Kissed again looked out of the top-drawer when racing over a mile and a quarter on her return, beating Aaraas and three others with ease. She remains open to significant progress and can be backed at 5.69/2 for the Oaks.

Cirrus des Aigles followed up his Dubai Sheema Classic success with another top-level win, this time taking Sunday's Prix Ganay at Longchamp, running right up to the form that won him the Champions Stakes at Ascot last season. He clearly is as good as ever, a thoroughly tough and consistent performer, and holds entries in both the Coronation Cup and the Prince of Wales's Stakes, where he could meet the mighty Frankel were that rival to step up in trip earlier in the season.