Well its supposedly Summer outside, whilst writing this on a rainy bleak Sunday afternoon I dont have to think for too long about the coming week and months ahead as far as the flat season is concerned to sway my mood into an explosion of optimism and utopia! ROYAL ASCOT WEEK.
The creme de la monte as far as pomp and ceremony is concerned mixed in with great international horseracing! What more can you want?
Day 1 Tuesday 12th June
2.30 1m Queen Anne Stakes
The battle royal begins straight away. Canford Cliff v GOLDIKOVA two of the best milers in the world. Its all about the globetrotting filly GOLDIKOVA for me a classy, quick, tough mare that will be the one to beat here. Just look at the record, 13 victories only beaten four times over the last few years. Freddy Head knows what it takes to win this as was shown last year, Olivier Peslier will pilot the horse once again and will take all the beating. Canford Cliff has an obvious chance also but in my opinion has a few quirks, needs to prove itself against a very tough mare and I do have some reservations with the Hannon/Hughes partnership. I'm not a massive fan of Hughes he likes to make the performance look visually better than it needs to be or he doesnt quite get the pace exactly right. I'll be flying the French Flag come Tuesday. Nothing else will come between these two you can forget about Cape Blanco as the other main challenger needs further for me and wont have the baseline speed to cope with these two. I've snapped up the price already 13/8 is a nice tidy price with Hills.
3.05 King Stand Stakes 5f
Always tricky and difficult the King Stand but you can almost always guarantee some value which I really enjoy finding. However because of the lack of our sprinter superiority and the fact that we are really struggling in this sphere my attentions will be firmly fixed on the oversea traveller. STAR WITNESS will be my selections. STAR WITNESS has shown a solid level of form in Australia as losing only by four lengths to Black Caviar in November showed. Obviously its difficult to match up horses from all over the world but this one is the worthy favourite at around 4/1 in my opinion. My other selection who I now have witnessed winning since his 100/1 win in the Nunthorpe goes to SOLE POWER, this horse is classy, is strong in a finish and will have every chance in this race.
3.45 St James Palace Stakes 1m
Well! this card just gets better and I know this is so unoriginal, I'm going against the opinion of some that this horse has had a tough race in the Guineas, other comments like 'you dont know how much this has taken out of the horse?' I'll rubbish those comments straight away its all about FRANKEL. What a horse! I was there on Guineas day and was quite literally blown away by this horses performance, what a progression from 2 to 3 years old! Wont lose, I'll stick my neck out and state this is buying money. The odds are very very short but you just cant forget that performance in the Guineas. Watch the Youtube clip to the right hand side!
4.25 Coventry Stakes 6f
This could be the each way steal of the meeting, judging on form, progress in its previous race and trainer form I'm going with Jeremy Noseda's horse here ROMAN SOLDIER. Of course there is alot to like about the two that will head the market O Briens colt Power and the Teofilo colt Mezmeer but Noseda's horse won its last race in style. One thing to note would be the ground, this horse likes a bit of juice in the ground so I'd wait to see before a nice each way bet which could see the horse go off at around 16/1 even bigger.
5.00 Ascot Stakes 2m 4f
Its all about being able to sustain the gallop here and getting the trip. I'm going for a hose that has been here and done it. But JUNIOR a front running horse that loves it around Ascot is the pick of the bunch here. This horse knows its way around ascot, won this race a year ago, one at the Cheltenham festival a true stayer. With Ryan Moore on board I've said it before but what MOORE do you want!
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