THE calm before the storm of Royal Ascot next week, which I will mention later on, is hardly an easy ride, as several big handicaps are up for grabs, with Sandown’s 5.35 of particular interest to me and Dark Pearl (nb) the focus.

Ed Walker has always thought a lot of this lightly raced son of Born To Sea and it was obvious from fairly early on in his career, as with many of the sire’s progeny, that staying would be the name of the game for this four-year-old bay gelding.

On his seasonal debut he was far from discredited when fifth to Star of the East at Chester, but he didn’t get the run of the race that day, stuck out wide, and wasn’t really suited by the track.