Almaqam can Star in Brigadier Gerard

Lope De Vega's Almaqam Wins The Brigadier Gerard

Having promised to make his presence felt in the better middle-distance contests for a while, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's Almaqam delivered on Thursday evening in Sandown's G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes. Taken to the front early by Oisin Murphy, the 7-4 second favourite predictably faced his sternest challenge from the 5-4 market-leader Ombudsman inside the last two furlongs but stayed on strongly to end that rival's unbeaten sequence by 1 3/4 length…

Almaqam can Star in Brigadier Gerard

Thursday’s Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Evening from Sandown is Britain’s richest evening race meeting and visitors to the Esher track look set to be treated to some top-quality racing. After the action kicks off at 6.05pm, racing fans will enjoy the Star Sports National Stakes (6.35pm), which is a fascinating juvenile contest. Richard Hannon’s First Legion is shading favouritism over Karl Burke’s Clear Force, and while the former only has one r…