Weekend Racing Review May 23: Dicko on Sandown's Track, Pistol Pete on Belmont's Lane Bias, and their Horses to Follow

Two meetings, two reviews, two very different stories. Jack Dickens was across Sandown Hillside for Racing HQ, while Pistol Pete Anthonisz had Belmont covered for Giddy Up with Gareth Hall. Here's what they found.

Sandown Hillside — Dicko's Verdict

Dicko's opening line on the track pretty much set the tone: he thinks it was a heavy 8 that they called a 6, downgraded to a 7 with no rain in the interim. Tricky day, tricky review. His frame for it — horses that aren't rushed back and came through the ground okay will build into their preparation nicely. Focus on those types.

King Zephyr — The One That Got Away

If you watched Race 8 and scratched your head at King Zephyr's result, you weren't alone. Dicko was there. His read: Williams on Big Swinger pushed King Zephyr back at a critical point, which forced him into an awkward position and killed his momentum going into the straight. Then, when he needed to find clear air, horses kept shifting out in front of him — he was effectively running sideways for the first half of the home straight.

The raw numbers tell the real story. Dicko called out the final splits: 11.72 from the 600 to 400, 10.60 from the 400 to 200. On a heavy track, covering extra ground, that is a serious sectional. Fastest last 400 of the day. He's a group horse in the making and Dicko is sticking fat. When King Zephyr next turns up, you need to be on.

Elsie May and Sir Atlas — Horses to Follow

Elsie May, a horse The Mailbag has a share in, ran third behind Seafall in Race 7. She's a staying type — Dicko thinks she'll be better at 2400 metres — and this was well short of her trip. Came through the run in great order, could be back in two to three weeks. Don't expect to get $51 again, but she's going the right way.

Sir Atlas was the other one Dicko flagged. Unsuited by the race shape — back and buried while the front-runners controlled things — but he hit the line really well. Convinced he runs a big one next start.

Belmont Park — Pistol Pete's Verdict

Pistol Pete's Belmont review came with a lane bias alert. In the straight particularly, horses trying to make ground wider than lane 5 found it extremely difficult to accelerate and close. He's forgiving of anything that was three-wide.

PA made the point plainly: he's spent two years saying Ascot is the best-performing metropolitan track in the country. He can't then turn a blind eye to Belmont producing a lane bias at its third meeting back. In the same breath he floated a question worth asking — does Belmont need to operate as a summer track at all? His view is that Pinjarra-Scarpside is WA's most underrated and under-utilised circuit, performing as fairly as anywhere bar Ascot.

Hot And High — The Performance of the Day

Hot And High won and impressed. She was held up at a key stage on the back of the leader and had to show something we haven't quite seen from her before — patience. Typically she rolls forward and puts races away cleanly. Here she had to wait, absorb some interference in the straight, and still win. PA thinks that's as good a performance as she's produced. The raw figures back it up, and she hasn't been properly tested yet. Keep watching.

Storm Away — One More Chance

Storm Away, tipped by PA in the preview, never really got into the race. Holly Watson rode for the fence — the right instinct on the day given the bias — but the gap never appeared. PA is giving him one more chance, with the caveat that he'll need the right map next time before committing fully. The horse is much better than the result suggests and he wouldn't have been tested on Saturday.

Conclusion

Two meetings, two analysts, and a handful of horses worth following into the coming weeks. King Zephyr is the standout — the numbers he ran on a heavy track covering extra ground are those of a genuine group horse. Hot And High is maturing into something potentially special in WA.

For independent analysis every week — no bookmaker backing, no house interest — a Mailbag subscription is where the serious punters are. And catch both Jack and Pete's full radio segments at The Mailbag Radio page.