Classic Trial distance suits Waseet

Waseet can give John Dunlop another classic contender at Sandown Park on Friday when he returns to action in the Group 3, $100,000, Sandown Classic Trial, at 1 1/4 miles the first key prep for the Epsom Derby on June 5.

The eminence grise among British trainers, Dunlop will send Elusive Pimpernel to Newmarket next Saturday as the second favorite for the 2000 Guineas. In Waseet he has the 1 1/4-length runner-up in Ascot's one-mile, Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. A Selkirk colt, Waseet looks sure to stay 10 furlongs and will be partnered by owner Hamdan Al Maktoum's first-string rider, Richard Hills.

Chabal, who will be making his first start for Saeed bin Suroor, could go off as the narrow favorite. A neck second two back in August in the Curragh's seven-furlong, Group 1 National Stakes when he was trained by Jim Bolger, this son of Galileo disappointed when he finished 10th as the favorite in the seven-furlong, Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes won by Beethoven, in which Kentucky Derby hopeful Awesome Act was ninth.

Looming large is the Paul Cole-trained Circumvent, the winner of the one-mile, Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud last fall before finishing a game second in the 1 1/8-mile, Group 3 Prix de Conde at Longchamp.

The only Classic Trial runner with a race under her belt this season is also the lone filly in the race. Bikini Babe emerges from a second-place finish behind Raihana in the 1 3/16-mile UAE Oaks on the Meydan Tapeta surface on Feb. 25. A Montjeu filly trained by Mark Johnston, she won her maiden against colts going seven furlongs at Sandown in June.