Thursday's Meetings Ripon Flat 7 Races 2:05-5:43p.m. Chelmsford A/W 6 Races 2:15-5:05p.m. Royal Ascot Flat 7 Races 2:30-6:10p.m. Leopardstown(E) Flat 8 Races 4:45-8:30p.m. Wetherby(E) Flat 7 Races 5:48-8:50p.m. Lungfield(E) A/W 6 Races 5:58-8:40p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
The Fingal Raven 5.00 Brittania... 25/1 a few places. Meydan runs .. second to Ruling Court makes ok reading, but the race before over a mile on Good to Firm, beaten 2 and three quarters 'Slowly into stride, in rear, ran on late, nearest finish' behind Hallasan and Al Qudra, They were rated 101 and 110, raced off level weights rated as it is now 93. (8 and 17lbs wrong) Al Qudra started favourite for the Greenham made no show and not seen since.. Hallsaan has run two just ok races in a G3 and a listed. Jackknife 5.35 Hampton Court...nap of the week... 9/1 Hills Already backed Candelari at 16 e way.. Gold Cup
Friday... I suspect there will be a major plunge on this SIGNORA of O'Brien in the Albany currently 3/1 with Coral 4 Places!! (especially if this Charles Darwin wins).. First time out it was pitched into a G3 at level weights and finished 3rd, nowhere near knocked about behind Lady Iman beaten two and a half. (Green Sense finished just in front of it in the same race) This same Lady Iman comfortably beat True Love (first time out) in a Listed race 2 weeks before. Signora is a full sister to Exactly who contests the G1 Coronation Cup.
Royal Ascot Ladies’ Day and there are certainly some mug bets on offer. Charles Darwin is long odds on for the opening Norfolk Stakes (2.30) and according to the Timeform write-up on SportingLife.com has just 11lb to spare on their ratings and ran a Timefigure of 109 when making all to beat Cardiff By The Sea easily at Naas last time. You cannot have Albert Einstein this week but how about some Darwinism? He might be chased home by once-raced French colt Afjan but you won’t be getting rich on that forecast. The front two in the King George V Stakes (3.05) handicap look very short (the book is 127% over-round and will undoubtedly get worse on course – just do not expect dipstick Ed Chamberlain to explain it on ITV), so I would steer clear of Merchant and Sing Us A Song. If they go too fast then the best thing to do here is look for something that is going to be finishing from the back at each way odds. The Ribblesdale Stakes is often referred to as the Ascot Oaks but Go Go Boots is the only one representing the Epsom form and what I immediately notice is that they have reached for the blinkers. Prior to her underwhelming effort at Epsom, she was third in the Musidora and the runner-up that day, Serenity Player, skipped Epsom and lines up here. Andrew Balding’s filly is considerably shorter in the betting than the Gosden filly and there are also two other Gosden fillies in the field. Rab Havlin gets the leg up on Understudy, winner of a minor event on the Southwell kitty litter on her second start and definitely in the ‘could be anything’ category. The shortest priced of the Gosden trio is Life Is Beautiful, who followed up two efforts on the Kempton kitty litter with a fair second in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Guineas meeting; and Lady Bamford’s filly looks the best chance of the Clarehaven runners under Tom Marquand. Ballydoyle is also represented by three. Island Hopping is fitted with first-time blinkers after finishing third in the Listed Naas Oaks Trial, a race won by re-opposing stablemate Garden Of Eden, who is the choice of Ryan Moore. Wayne Lordan gets the ride on Ecstatic, a well beaten fifth in the Listed Newbury Fillies Trial, form that has hardly worked out well with runner-up Revoir sixth at Epsom, winner Qilin Queen eighth and third Sand Gazelle third last at Chantilly. Moore has won the last two renewals of this race for Ballydoyle so are the other two in here as a team strategy? Henry de Bromhead’s Hollys Graces looks to be up against it here as she was sixth in the Naas race that Garden Of Eden won without ever actually getting into it. Charlie Johnston’s Caspi Star was third in the Cheshire Oaks to the subsequent Epsom winner but that proximity flatters her and before winning her maiden she was beaten over this trip on the Southwell kitty litter by Ralph Beckett’s Lady Vivian, subsequent winner of a Chester handicap and bought by Wathnan racing. After a fantastic Wednesday for Paddy Twomey, Catalina Delcarpio lines up here on the back of a maiden win and a Group 3 second over ten furlongs. In the Group 3 race, Island Hopping was behind in third and Ecstatic was seventh; however, that race was on soft ground. What bothers me about this race is the pace. Most of the field seems to be front runners or horses that want to be up with the pace. That suggests the winner might come from off the pace and looking at the betting I see that the Twomey filly (held up last time) is being strongly backed (now favourite) as is the Gosden ‘first string’ and Ralph Beckett’s filly. So I think I will leave this alone for betting purposes. With Kyprios out of the picture, the Ascot Gold Cup looks like a four horse race within a field of eight. Yashin beat Coltrane in the Sagaro Stakes but Coltrane was subsequently well beaten in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown by Trawlerman, which eliminates both of those outsiders on collateral form. Wonder Legend has been handicapping on the kitty litter and his latest win at Newcastle still leaves him plenty to find with the principals today. Saeed bin Suroor’s Dubai Future is up in trip today and fitted with a hood after bombing out at Longchamp last time in the race won by Candelari. The worry with the French raider is the jockey’s tendency to leave his mounts with too much to do recently. This could turn into a sprint in the Ascot straight if nobody wants to set decent fractions for the first couple of miles! Sweet William warmed up with a close third in the Yorkshire Cup and was third in this last term, five lengths behind the runner-up, stablemate Trawlerman, but there does not seem any reason to believe that the Doncaster Cup winner will reverse that running. Ballydoyle’s Kypios substitute is Illinois, winner of the Prix Chaudenay and the Ormonde Stakes on his last two starts, stepping up further in trip now. With the front three in the betting all less than 3/1, I will sit this out but with the form of the Gosden barn this week, I would not be surprised to see last year’s 2-3 become this year’s 1-2. The Hampton Court Stakes (5.35) is only a Group 3 but there is lots of Classic form to sift through for the ten furlong race. It seems easy enough to eliminate some of the outsiders: Stardrop opened his account in a Class 6 Windsor handicap off a mark of 62 last time and needs to find at least two stones more than his 74 rating today. Glittering Legend won a maiden and a nursery on turf last year but his two victories in 2025 were both on the kitty litter and he needs to do a lot more than his Listed win over the Newcastle mile. Tiberius Thunder was last in the Gallinule ‘won’ by Reyenzi (subsequently demoted; Emit third after interference promoted to second) but only beaten three lengths. Prior to that Adrian Murray’s colt was well beaten in the Blue Riband Trial won by Sea Scout from Trinity College. Sea Scout was well down the field in The Derby, where Tornado Alert finished ahead of him in six when failing to stay. The drop back to ten furlongs is sure to suit Saeed bin Suroor’s colt today as he contested the 2000 Guineas prior to that, where he made the running until The Bushes and was outpaced up the hill by the first three. Jackknife steps up a couple of furlongs after finishing third to Opera Ballo in the Listed Heron Stakes. Although he had traffic trouble that day it is hard to claim that he would have troubled the easy winner so he needs to improve more to feature here. Arabian Force is a bit of an unknown quantity as he just scrambled home on his second start and then won a six runner novice easily from the front at this trip. Blue Riband Trial runner-up Trinity College contested the Prix Du Jockey Club last time, where Detain finished a head in front of him in third. With the form of the Gosden runners, one should expect Detain to confirm that running; however, I do not think that this year’s ‘French Derby’ was a very good race (a small blanket would have covered the first six and a larger one the first seventeen!) and it is not impossible that this could be too soon afterwards. Great David started the campaign winning a handicap off 76 but then contested the Dee Stakes. He made a lot of the running but ended up finishing third with HIGH STOCK passing him a furlong out before he was caught by Ryan Moore on favourite Mount Kilimanjaro. The Dubawi colt was having only his second race that day having won the Wood Ditton on debut at the Craven meeting so there is plenty more to come and, unlike the Classic runners, he has had a nice break. It is interesting today that the Godolphin runner is being ridden by James McDonald whilst William Buick is riding for the in form Andrew Balding stable.
Today's Ascot picks... 2:30 - First Legion, 16/1, Wise Approach, 12/1 3:05 - Daiquiri Boy, 18/1, Gunship, 7/1 3:40 - Serenity Prayer, 7/2, Lady Vivian, 10/1 4:20 - Illinois, 5/2 5:00 - Consolidation, 14/1, Arctic Grey, 28/1, Tribal Nation, 33/1 5:35 - Detain, 7/2, Jacknife, 9/2 6:10 - Apiarist, 18/1, Fifty Nifty, 16/1, Northern Express, 22/1 You will need a lot of luck and very well placed darts to get owt from the big field races today, in my opinion. But one of em has to win...!! Good luck if you are having a play today, you'll need it...!!
In the opener I’d love to see Grace Harris’ Exclamation run a good race. These small operations need the odd shot in the arm which a competitive Royal Ascot runner brings. 80/1 currently so a very small ew speculation first 4.
Where does the mercury have to reach before the guys can lose the penguin jacket and topper? What utter bollocks
I'll keep it clean.... I find myself laughing at the plastic WAGS of the Coolmore team leading into winners as if they had something to do with it, pulling the reins out of a grooms hands... And patently Moore doesnt like Matt Chapman and yet the Coolemore ownership seem to ..
Great to see Saeed Bin Suroor have a winner... down to 30 horses from 250. 40 Ascot winners. Maybe Sheikh Mohammed needs a bit of a rethink... Massive advantage near side... shouldn't happen...!@!
I'll give Tornado Alert a go, he didn't stay at Epsom and I thought he was still capable of being a bit tighter that day. Tornado Alert 6/1
Hate it, so ungracious of them. Let the guys who graft all hours for not fantastic money have their 5 mins in the limelight. I noticed some of the various Sheik entourages started this trend off a while back. Fair play to AOB he’s quick to give a mention to the staff in involved with each winner. Class act.
