Sycamore makes his third start for the Coral Racing Club this afternoon in the Class 6 Handicap (15:45) over a mile and half a furlong at Nottingham. 

Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and Sycamore's lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).

Raceday LIVE Preview

Sycamore makes his third start for the Coral Racing Club this afternoon at Nottingham, having finished third in his first outing for the club, before not putting his best foot forward last time out at Yarmouth, finishing an eventual 12th.

That day was two months ago now, and trainer Scott Dixon has been pleased with the progress that Sycamore has been making in his work at home since then, saying that he "could not be happier" with the gelding at home.

All of the recent updates have been how well Sycamore has been completing his homework at Southwell, Scott Dixon's base of operations. The trainer had planned for his reappearance to come earlier, at Redcar, as our seven-year-old had been in fine fettle at home, however the ground has been softer than ideal for Sycamore, and that's kept him stuck at home for longer than we would have liked. Thankfully, the ground at Nottingham is currently good-to-firm with watering taking place prior to racing, which will hopefully give us perfect underfoot conditions for Sycamore.


Sycamore on the gallops at Southwell Racecourse

Phil Dennis has been booked to ride today, which is good news as he knows Sycamore well having been onboard for his third placed finish on his Coral Racing Club debut at Southwell in April.

Although Sycamore has been showing up well at home, he does have the task of proving he can transfer his previous all-weather form onto turf. Prior to moving to Scott Dixon from Martyn Meade back in 2021, Sycamore ran solely on turf for his first six starts, but since then he's been on grass just twice in 17 runs, and both efforts have seen him finish down the field.

That being said, in the update we posted on the 14th May, Scott was keen to express that he is still "confident he [Sycamore] can produce his best on turf." so hopefully we can see that at Nottingham this afternoon.

Raceday message from Scott Dixon

Sycamore has been eased 1lb to a mark of 64 by the handicapper following his last run at Yarmouth. Obviously, that was a disappointing performance, so I am hoping to see much more from him this time at Nottingham.

Phil Dennis has been booked to ride. He knows the horse, as he has ridden him twice before, including when finishing third at Southwell back in April. Unfortunately, he could not ride him at Yarmouth as he encountered traffic issues on the day.

This is not the strongest race in the world, so I really feel we should be competitive. We have been drawn in stall five which gives Phil options out of the stalls.

I am looking forward to meeting some of the Coral Racing Club members at Nottingham. I know it is going to be a huge day for the Club, and I hope we can play our part in some success.

Sycamore's Owners for the Day

As winners of the Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Sycamore's run at Leicester this afternoon.

Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Nottingham Racecourse, including exclusive access to Owners & Trainers areas. They'll have the opportunity to meet Sycamore and the Scott Dixon team, plus get to head into the parade ring before the race begins to be amongst all the other owners, trainers and jockeys. And last but by no means least, each winner will get to take home an equal 10% split of any prize money won by Sycamore.

Today's Class 6 contest is worth £6,500 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,402.10 for their lucky owners.

2nd: £1,596.40 | 3rd: £797.55 | 4th: £399.10 | 5th: £198.90

Trainer and Jockey Statistics

Scott Dixon has been in excellent form this week, sending out two winners and one second place finisher out of eleven runners. Around 8% of his Nottingham runners have been successful, with 11 winners from 131 runners to date in his career, and he is yet to score there this season, with no victories coming from his three runners there. 

Phil Dennis hasn't been in as good form, having not had a winner in 17 days. His record at Nottingham has been relatively solid, returning at a 10% strike-rate, and for Scott Dixon he's ridden five winners out of 110 rides, with three of those coming so far this year.

Today's opposition

• Covert Legend heads the early betting market having won for the first time in his career two starts ago, on the twelfth time of asking, over this distance on the all-weather at Wolverhampton. He's been put up four pounds for that performance and Kevin Stott rides for the first time today.
  
  
• Taravara is another former distance winner, but has only scored that one time in his 27 race career, and that came in December of 2022. Jack Mitchell jumps back onboard for trainer Simon Pearce. 
  
  
• Armoured aims to land the second win of his career, after being victorious in January. Jonny Peate is back onboard, having ridden him to victory that day.

   15:45 NOTTINGHAM – LATEST BETTING HERE   

We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 15:45 to watch Sycamore's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.