It's Godolphin versus the north in the Scurry Stakes - this is the side you should come down on

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It is a competitive time of year for three-year-old sprinters. We had their 'Dash' last week, flowing into this weekend with the Macmillan Sprint and the Scurry Stakes, then next week at Royal Ascot there is the Commonwealth Cup and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The Scurry is the race that ought to get the worst of the argument, with it being the least valuable. In practice, it does better than that, being a race that captures Group-class horses in the slow lane and acts as cheap black type for those with ambitions above handicap level.

One winner, Battaash, stands out in the race's recent honours board, yet plenty of good ones have passed through in the meantime. The likes of Flora Of Bermuda, Nighteyes, No Half Measures and Live In The Dream have all been beaten in the race in recent seasons.

In other words, the race is often a means to an end and that should inform how you approach it as a betting platform. Words Of Truth won the Mill Reef last season and has not run since January, while fellow Godolphin runner Military Code has not been seen since last year's Ebor meeting. It would be a brave punter who backed them to be fit, without the benefit of market clues. Words Of Truth has been weak between declarations and the time of writing.

Those two aside, the likeliest sorts come from the north. Manatee Mehmas made his debut in April and made a decent fist of it in Listed company at the Dante meeting only three weeks later. Argentine Tango has some of the best form in the race and this is much easier than the Temple Stakes she ran in last time.

Argentine Tango (near): was a narrow winner of the Listed Empress Fillies' Stakes

Argentine Tango (left) steps down in class in the Scurry StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Lady Youmzain is very much the archetype of a contender in this race. She is a late bloomer; this will be just her fourth run. She copped a bit of black type last time when she finished best of the rest behind a clearly superior first two, despite racing in a smaller group and shaping as though 6f on easy ground stretched her.

A low draw, which is not vital to win on Sandown's sprint course but simplifies things for prominent racers, can help Lady Youmzain too. At the very least, this is another shrewd raid for some cheap black type. You would not rule out her being the next major graduate from the Scurry Stakes.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

Compensation for Lady?

There is plenty of confidence about the chances of Lady Youmzain after her third in a Listed race at Haydock last time, a performance that can be marked up given how the draw fared.

The Kevin Ryan-trained two-time winner came out of stall one to take the minor honours behind the Royal Ascot-bound Rosy Affair, who was drawn on the favoured stands' rail in 15, while runner-up Magic Basma came from 12, fourth Figjam was in stall 16 and the fifth came from 13.

Philip Robinson, racing manager to owner Jaber Abdullah, said: “Lady Youmzain ran an incredible race to be third at Haydock, where she was drawn right out on the wing and as far away from the action as could be.

"Taking nothing away from the others but if she was drawn high she may well have won that day.”

What they say

Charlie Appleby, trainer of Words Of Truth and Military Code
Words Of Truth has a penalty for his Mill Reef win but goes into this in good order. He had the one run out in Dubai over the winter and there will be some improvement to come for the run. He's dropping down from six furlongs but has shown plenty of pace and the stiff five at Sandown should play to his strengths. Military Code hasn’t been seen for a while, having missed his intended target at the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the season. He has put up a couple of solid races at this grade and proved pretty consistent through his career. It's a similar scenario to Words Of Truth in that we want to find out where we are with him, so we can plan for the rest of the summer.

David O'Meara, trainer of Manatee Mehmas
He's in good form. Any rain would be a bit of a negative, but we'd be happy with the ground if it's not too soft.
Reporting by David Milnes

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