The Emperor rules supreme at Sandown

MARTIN Smith may only have 12 horses in his care but in The Emperor Within he hopes he has one capable of being significantly better yet than his victory in the feature contest at Sandown.

Filling the runner-up spot on his two previous starts, the son of Holy Roman Emperor went one better when finishing with a flourish to land the Best Odds Guaranteed At 188Bet Handicap by a length and a half.

The Newmarket handler said of his 14-1 scorer: “To be fair he was disappointing last year, but he has not put a foot wrong this year. He just keeps improving for every run.

“I’ve had Hillbilly Boy and Ifwecan and he is probably a touch better than those two, but I think I’ve a better one called Roman River who is owned by the same people at home.

“We could look at the allweather, although he is a French-bred horse and is open to French-bred premiums.

“Possibly at the end of the season we could run him in a Group race, then put him away.”

With entries in the Dewhurst, Royal Lodge and Champagne Stakes it is clear the regard in which Almania is held by Sir Michael Stoute and he looked useful when taking division two of the Bet & Watch At 188bet.co.uk EBF Maiden Stakes by half a length.

Rajinsky (7-1) wore down Walkinthesand late on to clinch division one of the seven-furlong affair by a short head.

Owner Raj Matharu said: “He is a nice horse that I bought at Tom Dascombe’s yard. The head lad is a friend of mine and he said that’s the one to buy.”