Varian entitled to aim high with Sandown scorer Saddadd Roger Varian’s Saddadd came from last to first to claim top honours in the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown, opening up a host of potentially exciting options in the process. The four-year-old won the lucrative London Gold Cup at Newbury and another valuable handicap over this course and distance last season, before finishing a close-up third when stepped up to Listed class for Goodwood’s Fountain Stakes. He was a 2-1 shot for his seasonal reappearance and was produced with a well-time challenge down the outside of the field by Ray Dawson to get up and beat the front-running King Of Cities by a length and three-quarters, with 15-8 favourite Almeric five and a half lengths further behind in third. Varian said: “He’s an absolute darling of a horse and if you looked at him in the paddock he was asleep and has the most delightful attitude. If I could put his brain into every good horse I’ve had… he just reminds me of all those good horses with a very good brain to go with it. “He won here like a really good horse last September and even though he got beat at Goodwood in a very strong Listed race afterwards, he wasn’t the same horse. “He needed the winter and we sat on him a long time last year when the ground was very firm and although he didn’t race much he had a very elongated stretch of training and I think he was just over the top at Goodwood. But he’s a nice horse. “Ray was pretty adamant we don’t need to be moving the goalposts just yet and I think we’ll stay at 10 furlongs for now. I’m sure if we asked him he would stay and he has a relaxed style of running, but he’s matured very well and I liked the way he put the race to bed.” He added: “He’s a horse we have always loved and we have to dream he’s a Group One horse, but his next race will tell us more. “I would love to perhaps end up at Ascot in a Champion Stakes. We know he’ll handle cut in the ground and he’s going to get better throughout the year. “Horses who win this race go on to dip their toe in at Group One level. Of course we don’t know if he is of that level yet and you could safely say that wasn’t a Group One field there. It was a strong, select field but not a Group One field, so we don’t know his level just yet, but he’s run well enough to be asked the question at some point. “I think we’ll digest today and see where the ladder is going. He’s in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and I could see him enjoying the Curragh as a track, but does he need to be tackling that level just yet? “We would love to come back here in the summer for the Eclipse and he’s won twice over course and distance. How do we get there? Is he a Royal Ascot horse? “Coming here today I didn’t know if we would be going up to a mile and a half and going Aston Park and Hardwicke or coming back here under a penalty for the Brigadier Gerard or taking a chance in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. “I think I’m quite settled at staying at a mile and a quarter, it’s just a question of which race we go for.”
