Skip to main content

Royal Ascot Day 4

Stradivarius stamped his authority and class all over Royal Ascot yesterday in what was one of the greatest staying performances in living memory. The cheeky look over the shoulder by Frankie rounding the turn for home and the "Three Gold Cups" will live remain a part of Royal Ascot footage for many years to come. After such a performance, it is disappointing that so few were in attendance to appreciate the achievement and give the combination the reception they deserved but such are the times. 

The ground appears to be drying out with minimal rain overnight and that should suit Golden Horde in the 3.35, who could be a sprinter out of the top drawer. His trainer, who knows a thing or two about top sprinters, holds him in high regard and he has achieved more than anyone else in the field to date. He first came to our attention as a potential Group 1 performer when a very encouraging 5th in the Coventry at the Royal meeting 12 months ago. His form appeared to take off from there, winning a Group 2 at Goodwood before bumping into Earthlight twice in Group 1 company. In particular, I was impressed by his neck second to Earthlight at Newmarket, pulling clear of the remainder. He hit the line really strong on that occasion and if he has strengthened up as reports suggest, he could be a sprinter worth following this season. There are a few dangers, particularly Lope Y Fernandez who shaped like a sprinter in the Irish Guineas. Obviously, his lack of a prep run is a slight concern, but he is still worth a small investment.

In the opening race on the card, there is no doubt that Art Power will be very hard to beat. However, 2/1 in a big field Ascot handicap is not very appealing and it makes the market from a value point of view if opposing the favourite. Keep Busy kept improving with each run (and there were a lot of them) in her two-year-old campaign and rounded off the season winning a Listed race in France. The graph seems to be heading in the same direction in the early stages of this campaign. She was a highly encouraging 7th in a Group 3 over 6 furlongs on her reappearance and her run behind Lazuli at Sandown last Saturday suggest she could be better than her current mark. Admittedly well beaten by the impressive winner, she was the only one to make any bit of a race out of it and had a couple of horses rated 104 well behind in third and fourth. It was an improvement on her first run and if she improves again like she did through last season, she should go very close. 


0.5 pt win Golden Horde (9/2 general) Ascot 3.35 *use BOG firms

0.5 pt win Keep Busy (15/2 Bet365, 7/1 general) Ascot 1.15 *use BOG firms


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Royal Ascot Day 2

What an amazing day of racing we witnessed yesterday, sheer quality from start to finish. Personally, for me the highlight was Baatash winning the Kings Stand and putting the "myth" about Ascot to bed. There was no shame in being beaten by Blue Point a couple of times but he thoroughly deserved a win at the Royal meeting. For a horse that has achieved so much, I wonder if perhaps he doesn't get the credit he deserves? A debate for another day perhaps as today's card has taken quite a lot of time to go through! Again, my initial thought for day two is proceed with caution. There are a host of difficult handicaps with any amount of potentially well-handicapped horses and the Group races on the card offer little respite in terms of difficulty level. Addeybb would be a strong fancy if the rain arrives in time but to back him now would be guessing. The trendy horse for the day is clearly Ranch Hand for the concluding handicap at 4.40. I don't pay too much attention to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

1000 Guineas Day

The early signs are that the 2000 Guineas was a very good renewal despite the interrupted preparations for the first Classic of the season. The time was the fastest in the races history and the horses that were expected to run well beforehand fought out the finish. I am sure it will produce plenty of winners throughout the season. Of course the first thought for most people will be the Derby and my initial thought is that ante-post favourite prior to the Guineas, Military March, will find it hard enough to reverse the form with Kameko, who was very strong at the finish. Hopefully Kameko will turn up and we will know for sure in a four weeks time. Moving on to Sunday's action and it looks quite a tricky card, with few standout bets, particularly from a price perspective. The Buckhounds Stakes at 1.50 might be the exception as the Mark Johnston trained Communique  looks a worthy favourite. While the price has contracted throughout the day, I still feel he is worth a bet at anything...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday 13th November

 Cheltenham is back and I simply cannot hide my excitement for this meeting as it is one of my favourite weekends of the season. I think perhaps it has something to do with the hope and aspirations for the jumps season ahead. At this time of year, there is hardly a day that goes by without a "potential" Grade 1 horse making their debut over either hurdles or fences. Of course, the results vary and there are plenty of bubbles burst! Looking ahead to tomorrow and the feature Paddy Power Gold Cup looks a cracking contest and one could make a reasonable case for at least half of the field. Those of you who read my Eyecatchers column on Attheraces will have seen that I mentioned the run of Zanza in the Haldon Gold Cup recently and I think he looks tailor made for this test, despite having course figures of 60FP.  His run here last December when he fell 3 out in the race won by Sky Pirate was enough to suggest the course should not be a problem. It was probably too far out to know ...
Post a Comment
Read more