13 Have been left in for Saturday at the moment; 1 1333-2 Aljamaaheer 2 4051-3 Amaron 3 4618-3 Chil The Kite 4 04232- Cityscape 5 411-1 Declaration Of War 6 32222- Farhh 7 6304-1 Fencing 8 9170-4 Libranno 9 512-87 Penitent 10 3006-0 Reply 11 285-42 Sovereign Debt 12 0150-1 Trumpet Major 13 1127- Beauty Parlour With Frankel and Excelebration gone for a happy retirement we are going to have the longest price favourite for 3 years with some bookies currently have 3 co-favs at prices for 3/1 Cityscape, Fahr & Declaration Of War. Cityscape looking the most vulnerable of the trio although Declaration Of War has the most to prove as he has not really beaten very much while Farhh may ideally need a further couple of Furlongs. One interesting runner is the Cecil horse- Beauty Parlour having been compared to the fantastic mare Zarkava - but I have not really seen to much of her. And Fencing showed a little of bit of the potential that he has been promising to show when winning at ascot earlier this month, but this field is something different to the field that day. This has most definately been a favourites race in the past with it going to them in the past 3 yrs and I feel this may be the 4th favourite winner in the 4th year with my pick Farhh taking the honours- he showed a lot of promise when chasing Frankel home twice and Nathaniel once- he should have really won over at Longchamp when beaten by a good filly in Moonlight Cloud but just think he would have matured after another year and this year is his time to shine as the #1 miler and finally take his 1st G1 race.
I think I'll settle for Beauty Parlour Wooly. Unbeaten over 8f except for her last race when bumped and hampered at the start.
You might as well punt the form in a race like this and Cityscape has the standout form. Lots of ifs and buts over many of these not least 7yo Cityscape but if he's as good as he was last year then I think he'll piss this.
Cityscape is a bastard nightmare. Flatters to deceive. Frankels form has generally stood up exceptionally well and Farrh looked classy last year. Beauty Parlour looked smart but I think she will be better off in fillies events over 7f.
I am really interested to see this Declaration of War horse. He came out really late last year, obviously had some sort of setback. Had a run of wins at the lower levels. Then again, he may just turn out to be another Await The Dawn. I do think his entry in this G1 contest is intriguing though.
Beauty Parlour's bare minimum is 1m, she will need soft ground to win a Group 1 at a mile. Farrh and Declaration of War are also better over further and Cityscape is hard to catch. If the ground is genuine good to firm, im taking a punt on Aljamaaheer, if not, I probably wont touch the race.
The key stat re this heat is that 15 of the last 18 winners had already won a Group 1 contest over a mile. In this years field there are 2 qualifiers - Beauty Parlour, what a lovely name for a filly by the way, and the German colt Amaron.
I remember having a really lumpy bet on Rakti in this a few years ago - lovely 8-10F horse he was and he absolutely wazzed up that day. Loved the firm ground. Ahhh fond memories.
Ahh Rakti, yes what a specimen he was when they let him jump out and bowl along. Awesome horse he was and remember his Lockinge win well myself. Brilliant performance.
I remember having a really lumpy bet on Frankel - lovely 8-10F horse he was and he absolutely wazzed up that day. Ahhh fond memories.
I think Cityscape has the best form in the race over a mile with his two 2nd place finishes behind Excelebration. Faarh obviously has form behind Frankel but that was pretty much a non event in the Sussex so im ignoring that piece of form, and all Faarh has at a mile is a defeat to Moonlight Cloud, who is a sprinter, and id be suprised if that form is as good as Cityscapes behind Excelebaration. The other huge negative for Faarh is hes trained by that Bin Suroor arse, who hasnt even had a winner yet this year. Probabaly the worst pound for pound trainer in the world when you consider the ammunition hes given. Cityscape is 7 which could be considered a negative against him, but im prepared to trust that he still retains all of his ability from last year. Decleration of War should no way be favourite, and im not even going to bother going into detail as to why his form is rubbish for a G1 race, as anyone with half a brain can see that he needs to be rated atleast a stone inferior to Cityscape and Faarh on what hes done so far. Even Trumpet Major, Fencing and a few of the others have better form than him
All I can say is BOOOOOOOOOOM! How the obrien horse got so short, is passed me! If i had been online I would have layed at for sure at that price!
Cityscape looked absolutely abysmal in the paddock, I made the trip south today for Lockinge day. I was all for having a fairly decent e/w bet on Cityscape before hand but when I saw him in the paddock he looked hairy and looked like he needed at least another 2 or 3 weeks before this. His performance backed that up - Roger Charlton comes out and states he hated the ground yet he won a Dubai Duty Free on rattling ground, I can't be having that. Im suprised he ran to be honest... The best horse won on the day though, Cityscape would have needed more than a career best today to win today. The Frankel form is still getting franked. I'd have to say though that if he was mine I'd be going for the Prince of Wales with him, I think taking on Camelot will be an easier option than tackling Animal Kingdom who looks an absolute monster whereas Camelot looks very much beatable!
Farhh looked really good quicker than standard time today when the other races were recording slower than standard times. Looked like the straight mile suited him really well. Will be interesting to see which race he runs in at Royal Ascot.
