Sandstormers: Miss can Dash across the winning line

James Fanshawe is the trainer of Miss Dashwood.

This week sees the return of our winter feature, Sandstormers, with Timeform's Matt Gardner on hand throughout the all-weather season to supply horses worth following...

Everyone likes a day out to the beach don't they? Bucket and spade in hand, possibly a bat and ball, but that prospect isn't quite so appealing in the depths of winter. Fear not, lovers of sand, as the all-weather racing scene is gathering pace (albeit more slowly than usual - which I will come on to) and will see Flat racing fans through those long, cold days and nights, a metaphorical electric blanket should the National Hunt season leave you cold.

In our first Sandstormers column of the 2012/13 season the question is quite simply where to start, as there is a near-endless list of horses to have caught the eye, their profiles attractive enough to be worth noting for the months ahead. The aim throughout the winter will be to put forward the most interesting of them on a weekly basis and to keep on top of those already highlighted with the aid of a snazzy spreadsheet, which you can see by clicking the link below. 

Sandstormers Spreadsheet 05/12/12 

As has been alluded to, the term "all-weather" needs to be fairly loosely applied, as both Southwell and Wolverhampton have been forced to rearrange fixtures. The first mentioned track has been hardest hit, with flooding causing seemingly endless damage, although the course and the BHA have managed to transfer all of the planned Flat fixtures to either Wolverhampton or Lingfield throughout the remainder of December and all of January. Wolverhampton itself has suffered at the hands of the weather, too, with dipping temperatures producing problems with surface kick-back and balling in the horses' hooves - their fixtures up until December 11 have been transferred to Lingfield, although it is expected that racing will resume after that date. 

Therefore, we will not be seeking out any "fibresand warriors" just yet and will instead be concentrating on the polytrack, where there is a wealth of intriguing horses to choose from. 

With no further ado we will move on and, with confidence as yet untainted by a run of poor form, will assuredly state that Miss Dashwood will win at least another race this winter. In fact, it would be most disappointing were she not to taste success on numerous occasions, as James Fanshawe's 3-y-o strikes as being open to further improvement, which is saying something given that she has already progressed with each of her six starts. Three runs on turf yielded no success, but she only just failed to win on her polytrack debut, at Kempton in September, and went on to score on each of her next two starts (both at Wolverhampton) with relative ease. Miss Dashwood has a handy habit of making smooth headway to get herself in front before doing only what is required to seal the race, with the impression being that she has plenty in hand above her winning margins, so a rise of just 5 lb for her latest victory seems fairly lenient. 

Harrison George is the next on the list. A very useful performer at his best when trained by Richard Fahey, the 7-y-o is now in the care of PJ O'Gorman and, after a winless 2011, is on an enticing BHA mark of 87. Initially, the signs upon him joining his current yard were not good, as he finished down the field in consecutive races at Newmarket, but since taking to all-weather the impression created has been much more positive, only just denied by Alraased in October before finding 5f too sharp last month. He did more than enough during the latter race to suggest he remains in form and is certainly one to bear in mind when returned to a more suitable distance of either 6f or 7f. 

Our final selection of the opening Sandstormers column is O'Gorman who, close followers of Timeform will note, was lumbered with the infamous Timeform squiggle not that long ago. However, he has done very little wrong since switched to artificial surfaces, aside from starting slowly at Kempton last time, which has become something of a trait. His two recent runs on all-weather have been right up there with the best form that he has produced in his career to date, finishing second on each occasion, and whilst he has just the one win to his name, both of the aforementioned efforts suggest he ought to be adding to that before long. His style of racing (held up) means that a strong pace would be preferable and, were he to get that on his next start, he should go close. 

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