Nick Luck’s William Hill blog: Dubrovnik Harry a safe port in the storm

William Hill ambassador Nick Luck casts his expert eye over the ITV racing from Sandown Park on Saturday.

Sandown, Saturday

DUBROVNIK HARRY is a reasonably strong fancy in the TV opener from Sandown (1:15pm). This is a less competitive race than the one he was a good third in here in February. He goes well fresh, and a line through the horse that was just in front of him that day, Hermino AA, who won at Newbury last weekend, suggests that he is attractively handicapped.

L’EAU DU SUD looks tough to oppose in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase (1:50pm). He made a striking impression on his chasing debut at Stratford and then followed up in good fashion at Cheltenham last time. The fact that he glided around the two miles of the speed-favouring Old Course so well suggests that this relative test of speed won’t pose a problem. I do respect Down Memory Lane, who I think has a significant future over fences, but L’Eau Du Sud might be the pacier of the pair.

NEMEAN LION is the selection in the two-mile handicap hurdle (2:25pm). He’s a horse that was quite highly tried at the back end of last season, and was entitled to be as he had run really well in his handicaps before that. Arguably, he should have won the Lanzarote at Kempton but just ran into a horse that was right on the day. I thought he also performed very creditably in what was a red-hot Greatwood Hurdle the time before that. He then went into conditions races, won the Kingwell and was asked to run in the Champion Hurdle. He’s in much calmer waters here, goes well when fresh and I think he’s a very fair each-way play.

EDWARDSTONE is given a shot at beating Jonbon in the Tingle Creek (3:00pm). It may be strange to say given he has finished behind him on their four previous meetings, but I can’t get out of my head how impressive Edwardstone was in this race a couple of years ago. He has got a real love of this place, and it’s worth remembering that he improved massively from the Shloer to the Tingle Creek last season. I think he’s a horse that takes a good bit of getting fit these days and he looked to carry a fair bit of condition on his seasonal debut. Of the three that fought out the finish to the Shloer, I think he can improve the most, and at the odds I give him a fighting chance of bustling up the favourite.

MONTGOMERY is the pick in the London National (3:35pm). His trainer Venetia Williams excels in races of this nature, and he could be one of the few horses in this field that is still relatively unexposed and upwardly mobile. A strict reading of his Bangor form last year makes him look reasonably well treated off this mark. His last run at Ayr in the spring was on ground that had dried up too much for him, and I think on proper winter ground, given a real test of stamina, this horse has got a bit more to offer.