Easter Impact well suited to York challenge

Richard Fahey has three runners in todays Betbright Charity Sprint at York. Picture: Getty

Fahey loves a winner at his local track and in recent Newmarket victor, Easter Impact, he appears to have an ideal candidate for this six-furlong event.

The Bahamian Bounty gelding raced just twice as a juvenile and was a bit disappointing on his three-year-old return when well beaten as a 7-2 favourite at Thirsk. However, Eastern Impact perhaps just needed the run as he stepped up on that significantly when fourth in a decent Newmarket heat next time up, although he hardly helped himself by taking a strong grip early on.

He finished behind Nova Champ and Stars Above Me on that occasion but comprehensively reversed that form on his most recent outing back at Headquarters, winning by three-quarters of a length with the reopposing pair well in arrears. That effort demonstrates the swift strides Eastern Impact has been making and while he has to contend with a 5lb rise, this looks an obvious event to tackle for this smart individual.

Lockwood can score for Godolphin in the Listed Ian And Kate Hall Macmillan Ganton Stakes. A Group Three winner last term, he was slightly disappointing on his return when only third of four runners at Haydock last month.

That said, Lockwood has typically come on for his first outing and it would be no surprise if he could do so again here as he is the highest rated runner in the field and is also favoured by the conditions of the race.

Wind Fire has failed to spark so far this term but she is taken to return to form in Sandown’s Betfred ‘Hat Trick Heaven’ Scurry Stakes. Racing over six furlongs in a Listed event at Newbury, Wind Fire never really got into a challenging position as she had to settle for fourth behind Musical Comedy. Given the current warm spell of weather, the Sandown ground is likely to be riding much quicker than it did in Berkshire and Wind Fire can take full advantage.

Llanarmon Lad was edged out at Epsom last week but can make swift amends in the Crabbie’s Original Handicap at Chester. He went down by half a length to Abseil, who is a hot favourite for next week’s Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot. Llanarmon Lad was flying at the finish on the Downs but never really looked like getting there. This slightly easier task should see him back in winning form.

At York yesterday, bargain buy Willbeme ran away with the £25,000 BetBright For Your World Cup Bets Choose EBF Nominated Fillies’ Stakes. Despite being raised 10lb for an easy Beverley win last month, the six-year-old was still running from 1lb out of the handicap.

Some big southern yards were represented with Jeremy Noseda and Saeed bin Suroor sending runners to join the northern stalwarts Tim Easterby and David O’Meara, but they never saw which way the Andrew Mullen-ridden winner went.

She hit the front well over a furlong out and drew three and a quarter lengths clear of the consistent Bondesire to score at 12-1. Another hefty rise in the weights surely awaits.