Hello, So what am I doing here well basically I am going to try and give you an insight and a few pointers into the one of the largest and my favourite flat race meeting of the season, Royal Ascot, with lots of fillies of both kinds showing off there form to the fullest particularly on Ladies day.
I am going to do this each day for the whole meeting and I hope I can give you a few pointers and a few clues as to what might win and what might not win or run well in each race each day so I hope you can check back each day and keep an eye on what is going on Firstly I have been keeping an eye on the ground and from what you can see and from the turftrax data the straight track will be a fair bit quicker than the round track which is still on the soft side with the centre looking to be the best place to go draw wise, one thing to be wary of is the ground could be a bit false with the wind drying the track out a bit quickly plus the rails have been moved out metres so extending the distance of most races on the round track.
The Quality is excellent today with a couple of races to savour, the Queen Anne Stakes with the Anglo French battle of the sexes clash between Goldikova and Canford Cliffs who has looked something special this year, plus the mighty Frankel from the newly knighted Sir Henry Cecil stable, then we have a few International raiders including some from down under trying to show us Brits a thing or two.
The first race at Ascot the 2.30, a small betting race for me because I think we might have a small shock in store, don’t think that the two obvious horses have that much in hand over the others and I think Mr Hughes is getting a bit too confident on Canford Cliffs plus the softer going is a big worry, yes he has won his last races pretty cosily but in the context of this race they were run at a steady pace and the race was there for him to win, Goldikova is good but if I were the jockeys on either Cape Blanco or Cityscape I would be making this race a strong pace to blunt the finishing kick off the fav’s, I personally will be having a small win bet on both Cape Blanco and Cityscape and maybe a small reverse exacta could be profitable.
The 2nd race the 3.05 is most definitely a no bet race with so much unknown form on offer from the Foreign raiders who could be anything and a few of the home runners not always the most consistent of animals or genuine, the ground certainly seems to have gone against Sole Power who has just about the best known form but loves to hear his feet rattling which he won’t today, and Kingsgate Native is so hard to win with even though running consistently, so I could see this race being a placepot buster.
The third race the St James Palace stakes is another no bet race and looks to be Frankel’s race to lose, he has form in the book handles the conditions well but my worry is could he have left the race behind in the Guineas, that was an astonishing race and one like you would never see again, could it have taken its toll on the wonder horse, I hope not, I would love to see him win for Sir Henry but he will have to do it with none of my money riding on him, prior to the defeat in the Dewhurst I thought Dream Ahead was better than Frankel on what my own eyes had seen, but he has it all to find now with Frankel.
The fourth race the Coventry stakes brings a lot of runners but not that many with chances, it looks like there will be a lot of pace on which should soon sort out the wheat from the chaff, can’t see how the raider from down under Italo can last out this extra furlong on this much softer going, Mezmaar is a shocking price on the form he has shown so far he only won a weak Haydock race on his debut, this will be much tougher and he will be my personal place lay of the day, my shortlist would be of three runners Roman Soldier who improved a lot for his debut and still looked as if he had more to come when winning over this trip, Gatepost who has been crying out for this step up in trip after getting outpaced last time and the Aiden O’Brien runner Power from the stable who make a habit of winning this race.
The 5.00 the Ascot stakes has been a lucky race for me in the past which I know doesn’t mean it will be this time, but I can but try, and it will be my main bet of the day, Junior is as game as a pebble and with Ryan Moore riding looks to have a big chance but he is weighted up to the max and he won’t find the race working out as well as it did last year when he won it, Plymouth Rock is hard to win with so is overlooked, the going looks to have gone against the free going Australia Day, Ashbrittle could find the extra trip on today’s going will find him out, Zigato won ok the other day but he might find himself too far behind off the likely strong pace to be able to land a blow at the business end, Veiled always looked like she was going to win the other day without looking anything exceptional or Fallon going for everything but she has gone up in the weights and this is a harder race so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her win but not for me at the likely price, I haven’t mentioned what I think is the likely winner who I think has a big chance at the price but you need to subscribe to my services to find out what I think will win.
The 5.35 the Windsor Castle stakes has, as usual, lots of runners but not many with a chance Gentleman’s Cove hacked up in a three runner race at Folkestone which didn’t tell us much and Frederick Engels improved by 20lbs on his last run at Musselburgh so will he repeat it, so another no bet race for me.