Dab Hand Racing had two runners in Courageous' race and sadly for us, the other was smashed off the boards and that told us all that we needed to know. Kieren Fallon blasted out on board our fellow, helped to set stern fractions and gave the winner a perfect tow into the race, which was undoubtedly the plan and it was executed perfectly. Milton Bradley will eventually find the right race for Courageous and he remains one to keep on side, as this wasn't his true running and it wasn't down to him lacking in ability or anything.

Shesastar would have went very close in her race if she was "on the job", but she was not, as the betting told us beforehand, and was ridden with kid gloves throughout. In the end, she finished in third place, all of this despite not being asked anything at all by Graham Gibbons and the ground will have been a ready excuses. It's completely understandable, as there's no point in ruining a horse by giving them a hard race on such ground but it'd be nice to back a horse who was there to run on their merits. The Ebor meeting at York next month will probably be the target once more and it'll be interesting to see if Jamie Spencer hops up again. The filly is definitely one to keep on side for then and will be better back on less testing ground.

The other selection, Farhaan, was a non-runner. Thankfully, as he would have been beaten (thanks, rain).

-4.00pts on the day. Form of last 10 selections; 8-9-2-5-7-2-5-0-0-3 (0 winners & 3 places).

Can't get anything right at the moment, but on we go. Just one selection for today and that's mainly down to the stupid weather ruining everything. The one that we've gone for will have no issues there anyway and hopefully he can end the rot, which has quite simply gone on for far too long now. We will turn right soon.

2:05 Sandown - Elusivity - 2pts @ 8/1 (General)

I previously said that I wouldn't support Elusivity again over 5-furlongs unless he was getting give in the ground at a stiff track and that's exactly what he's going to have today, so we will hop on board once again. Brian Meehan's 4-year-old sprinter has a poor win-to-runs record for one with such ability but he's lightly campaigned in the sprinting code and even more so over the minimum trip. His main problem is that he's a real bridle merchant, often coming into the equation travelling better than anything but failing to follow up on his promises of success. That hasn't stopped him from climbing up through the ranks though and I'm sure that he still have more to offer the game once connections figure out exactly how he wants riding. His ability to handle cut in the ground has been evident for quite some time, including on his only turf win and a career-best performance was achieved at the same venue as that win (Newmarket; albeit on the other course), when finishing a very close up 3rd of 16 to the improving Richard Fahey trained Mayson - on what was his first outing over this minimum trip and his first in Group company (same level as this). He also had a couple of today's more fancied runners filling the positions right behind him and I see little reason as to why he should be priced larger than those. We supported him when he ran a modest race in the Temple Stakes at Haydock but the firm ground was the opposite to what he wanted and he was unable to land any sort of blow, though didn't discredit himself by any means. I thought that he ran a cracker when carrying a big weight in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot a couple of weeks ago, in which he travelled well and wasn't beaten far, but was never going to be suited by that test in handicap company. Dropping back to the minimum trip at a track like this when the ground is testing will suit and interestingly, connections are applying first-time blinkers. They could have any sort of effect really, but if it's positive then they may help him to see out his races better than he usually does and if that happened, we'd be seeing a smart sprinter in operation. William Buick being booked is a huge positive as well and he's a rare booking for the Meehan yard. Elusivity will need an ocean of luck if he is to win, mainly down to his run style, but he's certainly capable if getting that luck and taking 8/1 about it coming his way is appealing enough to me. He also has no ground restraints, which is another positive given the inaccurate going descriptions on offer.

Result - 7th @ 13/2; Goes very close if he wasn't badly hampered early.