Saturday's Meetings Ascot Flat 7 Races 2:30-6:15p.m. Newmarket Flat 7 Races 1:35-5:15p.m. Limerick Flat 7 Races 1:40-5:20p.m. Redcar Flat 7 Races 1:45-5:40p.m. Down Royal Flat 7 Races 2:05-5:45p.m. Ayr(E) Flat 8 Races 4:10-7:55p.m. Lingfield(E) Flat 7 Races 6:00-9:00p.m. Haydock(E) Flat 6 Races 6:05-8:45p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
Itv 7. Small e/w doubles and acca. Motawahij Isle of jura Washington heights Task force Ferrous Dambuster Tashkhan. Also had e/w bet on Glenfinnan in the Wokingham (8places)
Royal Ascot 17,05 Torivega 20/1 e/w Lads five places, 18/1 bet365 and Coral six places, 16/1 sky eight places 17,40 Nerano 25/1 e/w Lads and Coral four places, sky 18/1 five places 18,15 Uxmal 6/1 bet365, 11/2 others
Going news on day five of Royal Ascot The going for day five of Royal Ascot, Saturday 22nd June, is Good to Firm. GoingStick readings at 8am: Stands’ side: 8.6 Centre: 8.8 Far side: 8.5 Round: 7.7 Stalls: Straight Course: centre Round Course: inside Weather: Dry overnight. 1.4mm rain recorded over the past 7 days. Today is forecast to be generally dry with sunny spells, a light shower is possible. For access to our live weather station and for the latest Going info, please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing Watering: Watered Straight Course with 4mm and Round Course with 3mm after racing on Friday.
With the Royal meet on will anyone that does not live there be venturing to Newmarket for today’s card that would not look out of place at Catterick or Thirsk? There is a similar offering at Redcar but there is a Listed race at Ayr tonight and a class 2 maiden at Haydock. I reckon that there might be a few people posting on here today because the great Royal Ascot race for trainers of slow old plodders rounds off the card. A quick glance at the betting, however, suggests that a trainer of a flat slow old plodder could be victorious rather than Paul Nicholls looking for a summer pay day. After eliminating the bookies’ benefits (well almost all of them) I only have a couple of races to assess. The question in the Hardwicke is can the best horse in the field, St Leger winner Continuous, win first time out, given that many of his trainer’s need the first run? If not then who will benefit? Middle Earth is second top rated but the Gosden barn has had a poor meeting (2 winners from 29 runners). Will it be hats off to The King with Desert Hero? I would not back him until I have seen whether he has boiled over like last time. Little surprise that with no rain arriving, Kinross will not be chasing the half a million pot for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. Khaadem was an 80/1 upset in this last term but he will not be retaining the title as an 8 year old given that he subsequently failed to trouble the judge at double figure prices and is only 12/1 today because of last year. They have put blinkers on Jumby but he is a seven furlong horse and has not won for a year. I drew Quinault in the ITV7 sweepstake so he may as well stay home as he is not good enough at this level. It is anybody’s guess which Vadream shows up today but the mare last won over six furlongs in April 2023, finished second last on Tuesday and the ground has not got any easier. Believing was an excellent fourth on Tuesday with a career best effort and was third at this trip in last year’s Haydock Sprint Cup, just behind Shouldvebeenaring but ahead of three of today’s opponents. She should go well if the four day turnaround is not a problem. Swingalong won the Lowther two years ago but her only win since was a Group 3 at York so she is out of her depth here. The Wizard Of Eye has been plying his trade over seven and eight furlongs with his only six furlong win as a juvenile so it is hard to make a case for the Victoria Cup winner upped in grade. Shartash has changed hands a couple of times and comes here after winning a minor race and a Listed race over seven furlongs, prior to which his last six furlong win was two years ago. He would need to step up on that coming down in trip. Art Power does not win often but there is usually some ease in the ground. Last time he was fourth to Mitbaahy in the Greenlands Stakes with Shouldvebeenaring sixth so it is hard to make a case for either of them reversing the form with the winner. That brings me to the main form race: the Duke Of York Stakes. Khaadem was last, Swingalong was eighth, Art Power was fifth, Washington Heights was fourth, Shouldvebeenaring led five yards from the post but MILL STREAM battled to the win. The former handicapper started the campaign chasing home Washington Heights in the Abernant but is clearly continuing to improve and there could be a repeat of the York finish for his biggest pay day. In the past the Jersey Stakes used to attract two types: the lightly raced up-and-coming horse and the failed to get the mile in the Guineas more experienced horse. Quite a lot of the outsiders can be easily dismissed as being out of their depth so I can draw a line through Chicago Critic, Dark Tornado, Indian Run, Kortez Bay, Native American, Take Me To Church and Ziggy’s Dream. Zoum Zoum was second in the Greenham but has never run on quick ground. That second was a dead heat with El Bodon with Son just behind in third and there is no good reason to think that any of the three will suddenly flourish today given their disappointments after Newbury. If it were not for his breeding, would Kikkuli be fancied at all today? He has not encountered fast ground in his three starts and he will need to improve on his Heron Stakes second (Son last) to be involved in the shake up. Never So Brave won a Chester handicap easily but it won’t be Ryan Moore setting the fractions today and he needs to come on a lot to get in on the finish. Boiling Point is another that will need to improve a lot after winning a four runner Listed race last time. So turning to those that contested Classics, Pearls And Rubies ran like a drain in the Irish 1000 Guineas and has not won since her debut but she was second to the Coronation Stakes winner in the Cheveley Park. Coming from the all-conquering O’Brien operation she will probably outrun her odds without winning. Eben Shaddad was in the seven-way blanket finish for the Poule d’Essai des Poulains but that is already looking like a bad race and he drops a furlong here having also been second in the Craven. That brings us to the English and Irish 2000 Guineas form, which are interlinked. At Newmarket, Night Raider finished tailed off second last and Task Force seventh with HAATEM a good third. Over at The Curragh, Mountain Bear was second last, Take Me To Church was fifth and Tiber River was third whilst HAATEM was just touched off by his stablemate. Whilst it is true that Tiber River is 3lb better off and that was his seasonal debut, I am going with the Hannon runner to gain reward for his two placed efforts at the highest level.
Thanks for these daily updates and the link. Essential information for the serious backers and time analysts
I’m looking forward to AGE OF GOLD in the first. He looked a proper horse on debut despite running green. That said it’s also intriguing that Aidan has opted to send BEDTIME STORY to the same race, she was not the stable first string on debut but won cosily and now gets the 5lb allowance in this race.
Not a bad Royal Ascot. Five win bets, three winners. One each way bet placed. Well done to anyone else that managed to turn a profit, especially if you took on any of the handicaps. I was watching Saturday’s action in the boozer and it never ceases to amaze me how stupid some people can be. When Khaadem won the Jubilee for the second year, I mentioned how bad the price was for a horse that had finished last in its previous race (way behind the third home) and it was only 14/1 because it won the race last year at 80/1. One old boy then started on a rant about what did I know about betting. I pointed out that 14/1 was the shortest price it had been since winning the race last year and it had not run a place since. It was 25/1 at York. Will it be back next year as a nine year old trying for the hat-trick? Probably, as he has picked up more than a million the last two years and he is missing something required to retire to stud. It won’t be favourite for the July Cup if that is where it next runs as it was 25/1 last year. In real time, I actually thought that Haatem had got nailed on the line by Kikkuli as the runner-up’s head was going forward as his was going back. An excellent career-best effort by the runner-up, for whom they will surely find a good race. I am sure that Harry Charlton bought Tom Marquand a beer after racing for helping Hand Of God win by setting a suicidal pace on Approval – doing eleven and twelve second sectionals in the first half mile of a ten furlong race won’t see you involved in the finish unless you are on Frankel. He did beat the other two that turned for home with him but seventh, eighth and eleventh won’t have anyone rushing to book you. The winner clearly going places bringing up the hat-trick.
