Telescope has Sandown in sight Sir Michael Stoute will tread a tried-and-tested route this season with Telescope as the Great Voltigeur winner returns to action in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown next month. The four-year-old was one of the talking horses of last season but missed the Derby and did not return to action until July when he won a three-runner race at Leicester by 24 lengths. He then met with defeat at Haydock before winning the St Leger trial at York. However, he did not run in the Classic at Doncaster and missed the Champion Stakes with a small chip to his near-fore fetlock joint. Stoute has won the Brigadier Gerard eight times, most recently with Carlton House in 2012. "Physically he was always going to improve from three to four, he was bred to," said Harry Herbert, racing manager for Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, on Racing UK. "He did little wrong last year. There was all the talk about the Derby, in the end he couldn't run, and people get a bit soured by that I suppose. "Sir Michael got him back to win at Leicester, albeit in a three-runner race, and then there was the shock of Haydock when he lost but that race was against well-seasoned older horses which just caught him out. "He in the hands of the master and Sir Michael brought him back to win the Voltigeur and I thought he won that impressively. "That was only his fifth race and I'd like to think he can progress and he'll probably run at Sandown first time up in the Brigadier Gerard."
