Dar Turn

Taken out of York's G2 Betfred Middleton S. last week due to the excessive rain, Lord Lloyd-Webber's So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the prime attraction at Sandown on Thursday evening as she reappears in the G3 Matchbook Brigadier Gerard S. Last seen finishing third in the G1 Prix de l'Opera at Chantilly on Arc day, the daughter of Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), who also captured the G3 Musidora S. at York last May, is raring to go. “It's a pity we couldn't run in the Middleton, which was the plan all winter, but we'll be running against the boys in the Brigadier Gerard S. where it's going to dry up to be nearly good ground,” trainer John Gosden said. “I'm not frightened of good-to-soft, but she's an exuberant filly and I just didn't want her first run of the year to be in testing conditions. She's in great form, she needs to get on and race now.”

Chief opposition may come in the form of last year's GI Arlington Million hero Mondialiste (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who looked ready to return to this trip when sixth in the Listed Paradise S. at Ascot on May 3, while Henry Candy saddles another Middleton defector in Chain of Daisies (GB) (Rail Link {GB}). She beat Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Winter Hill S. over just short of this trip when last seen at Windsor in August. “Like John Gosden we'd hoped to go to York, but she's not as good on soft,” her trainer said. “She nearly always needs her first run, so I'd be a little wary and it would be nice if she could get a place. As a Group 3 winner, plans for her are a bit up in the air as the obvious Group 2 for her was the Middleton. We'll take it race by race and she might have to go abroad.”