2.25 Sandown: the one race you can't afford to miss on Friday

2.25 Sandown
Ballymore Winter Novices' Hurdle (Grade 2) | 2m4f | 4yo+ | RTV

Why is it interesting?

The Ballymore Winter Novices' Hurdle provides a first opportunity at Graded level over hurdles for six of the seven runners, with some outstanding prospects due to clash at Sandown in the £30,000 race.

Happygolucky, third behind impressive unbeaten hurdler Thyme Hill at Cheltenham last month, has experience at this level and boasts the best form in the book, although 12-length Carlisle winner Overthetop has yet to be beaten.

Warwick winner Emmas Joy was highly tried in bumpers last season and benefits from the 7lb mares' allowance, while Paul Nicholls, who has won this race three times with some high-profile names – See More Business (1995), Ladalko (2004) and Neptune Collonges (2005) – runs Enrilo.

What do the stats say?

Three mares have run in the race in the past decade, with Alsa Mix successful last year and Tara Point a close third in 2014. Emmas Joy gets the valuable allowance this year.

Three of the last nine favourites have won, with another four winners priced 100-30 or shorter.

The last two winners had won a point-to-point race, which bodes well for Ofalltheginjoints, Overthetop and Emmas Joy.

What do the trainers say?

Paul Webber, trainer of House Island
I hope he's still improving because he's going to have to. He's not very highly rated and he's got to give away a 3lb penalty, so it's a difficult task, but I think he's ready for the step up and I hope he'll run well.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Enrilo
I think he'll run all right. Put a line through his last run. He got into a bit of a row with Bryony [Frost] and, for whatever reason, resisted the bit and ended up hanging left. It was a one-off thing I'd say and if he hadn't run at Ludlow last time, he'd probably be favourite. Hopefully he can put that last run behind him.

Kim Bailey, trainer of Happygolucky
I've been happy with him since Cheltenham, he's taken the race well. He's a very nice horse. This is going to be a little more of a test, although the race at Cheltenham was a good race. The two horses who finished in front of him are pretty decent animals. It's really a question of what Olly Murphy's horse [Overthetop] is like.

Ofalltheginjoints: Chepstow winner was narrowly beaten last timeCredit: Steve Davies

Joe Tizzard, assistant to Colin Tizzard, trainer of Ofalltheginjoints
It's a step up for him but his form from Kempton, trying to give weight to Boss Man Fred, was boosted when that horse won at Southwell in the week. He's going in the right direction and he looks better physically every time you see him. He's in the deep end but we think he deserves to be.

Richard Rowe, trainer of Up The Straight
I wanted to put him in this because it's early enough in the season. If he holds his own in this race then I know what route to go, and if he can't the handicapper will adjust him accordingly and we've got the EBF Final as a back-up if he got a sensible weight. If he's as good as he looked at Lingfield he should run well.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Emmas Joy
She's been good since her last run and she's got a mark that hopefully makes her competitive. We didn't quite know what the form at Warwick meant but we're happy with her. She gets 7lb, a mare won it last year and there are plenty of positives, including the trip.

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