Can Brighton king Carroll land another win in one of the track's highlights?

Wednesday: 3.40 Brighton
Carlsberg Danish Pilsner Brighton Mile Challenge Handicap (For The Brighton Mile Challenge Trophy) | 1m | 3yo+ | Sky

It's Brighton, it's August and only one trainer comes to mind. Tony Carroll has saddled 16 winners from 105 runners (15 per cent) at the seaside track in the month of August since the start of 2017 and one of those victories was achieved in this race in 2019 with De Vegas Kid.

Turn the clock forward three years and De Vegas Kid is back to represent Carroll for the third time in this race. His 2019 victory came off a mark of 79 and he was third in the event last year off a rating of 77, so he is definitely handicapped to regain his crown racing off 64 here.

Five wins, four seconds and two thirds from 15 runs at the track highlight De Vegas Kid's love for the sea air, but he is now eight and it remains to be seen if he can roll back the years.

He isn't Carroll's only runner, either. The trainer, who also won in 2015 with Pyrocumulus, saddles three others in a bid to land another win in one of the season's highlights at Brighton.

Tony Carroll: saddles four runners for Wednesday's feature contest at BrightonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Poetic Force, River Wharfe and Kondratiev Wave make up the quartet for Carroll and it's difficult to glean any clues from jockey bookings as to who is best fancied. All four are partnered by riders with good records for the stable, which suggests they are all primed.

If there is one horse who could blow the race apart, away from the Carroll representatives, it is probably three-year-old The Covex Kid, who has improved fast to win four of his last six races.

He had Poetic Force five lengths behind when they finished first and second over course and distance three weeks ago, but needs to progress again to confirm placings on 8lb worse terms.
Race analysis by Graeme Rodway

What they say

Daniel Kubler, joint-trainer of Zulu Girl
She won the race last year and we've always had this in mind again for her. She's a course-and-distance winner already this season albeit she's been a bit inconsistent.

Tony Carroll, trainer of Kondratiev Wave, Poetic Force, River Wharfe and De Vegas Kid.
We'll go down there and enjoy ourselves and all four go there with a shout. Three of them are winners at the track and Kondratiev Wave was third there in April, so it makes sense to have a go as it's great prize-money. Whether they can beat the Newmarket horses in the race is another matter.

Eve Johnson Houghton, trainer of Granary Queen and Uncle Dick
Granary Queen loves the track and is in good form and I expect her to go very close again. Uncle Dick had a nice run around the other day in the Magnolia Cup and I expect him to go close.

Heather Main, trainer of English Spirit
He's not run at Brighton but we're hopeful he'll handle the track. He doesn't like soft ground, so he should bounce off this. It's a fact-finding mission which hopefully is worth a go.

Amy Murphy, trainer of The Covex Kid
He's done very little wrong since joining us, he's very straightforward and handled the track fine when we gave him a trial run there last time.

Kevin Philippart de Foy, trainer of My Boy Jack
He's new to us but we know he likes the track and he goes there with a decent draw and a claiming jockey who has a 27 per cent strike-rate at the course. It's a tough race but I hope he can pick up some prize-money.
Reporting by David Milnes

Sign up here. Minimum deposit requirement. Free bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of qualifying bets. Minimum odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply.