Brando out early at Doncaster Kevin Ryan’s stalwart Brando is among a field of 11 in the Unibet Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster. The nine-year-old showed on his penultimate run that he was almost as good as ever when beaten just a nose by Hollie Doyle and Glen Shiel in the Champions Sprint at Ascot. Brando is out earlier than usual this season — because his campaign normally begins in the Abernant at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, which he won in 2017 and 2018. He is well clear on official ratings of Saturday’s rivals — who include David O’Meara’s Summerghand, Tis Marvellous, Mr Lupton and Ainsdale. Les Eyre runs Just Frank, who bids to be the first three-year-old to win this race since Falcon Hill in 2002. “This has been the plan all winter,” the East Yorkshire trainer told Sky Sports Racing. “The negative is three-year-olds don’t have a terrific record in the Cammidge Trophy, but he is a big, strapping horse and looks more like a four-year-old than a three-year-old. “His form with Lipizzaner is looking good and he won the Sales race at Newmarket by four and a half lengths. That form has stacked up as well, so we’re going there with all guns blazing.” The Unibet Doncaster Mile is a classy affair, with James Tate’s promising Top Rank attempting to give weight all round. He is carrying a 5lb penalty for his win in a Group Three at Haydock, but disappointed in the Joel Stakes behind Guineas winner Kameko after that. Roger Varian’s Father Of Jazz, third in the Winter Derby, William Haggas’ Montatham and Richard Fahey’s Space Traveller — beaten less than five lengths in the Queen Anne Stakes on his only outing last season — are all in the reckoning. Fahey has declared Vintage Clarets as he attempts to win the Unibet Brocklesby Conditions Stakes for a third time in four years.
