Royal Ascot is here and our top tipster Kevin Blake is providing his best bets for every day of the meeting, which is all live on Sky Sports Racing.
I will make no apologies. Royal Ascot is my favourite race meeting of the year. It isn’t even close. Nothing compares to it in terms of the combination of fiercely-competitive world-class action on the track coupled with the most incredible setting and sense of real significance and occasion. It is in a class of its own and there is nowhere on the planet where it is more difficult for the participants to have a winner.
From a betting perspective, there is no better place in terms of the opportunity to back high-quality horses at big prices, but such is the competitiveness of the racing, home runs are hard to hit. We will seek out those home runs as best we can in this column all week. Whatever you do, best of luck, you’ll need it!
This meeting is famous for erupting into life from the very first race and it is the Queen Anne Stakes (2.30) that opens the show in a spectacular manner. The race is made appealing from a betting perspective as I am very happy to oppose the favourite Notable Speech. He is a wonderful horse and has the most magnificent turn of foot, but the stiff straight mile at Ascot does not at all compliment that potent weapon. He is easy to oppose and that opens up an attractive range of options for how to play the race.
One that is well armed for this test is the William Haggas-trained MORE THUNDER and he is my selection. The five-year-old showed remarkable improvement when dropped right back in trip to six and then seven furlongs last year, winning the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury. He shaped throughout the season that a return to a mile would be suitable and he made a highly-promising return to action in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury when second to Notable Speech last month.
He seems sure to improve from that in sharpness terms, but, more so than anything, this much stiffer straight mile will very much play to his strengths. He looks to have an excellent chance.
More Thunder and Tom Marquand aim for Group One glory
The King Charles III Stakes (3.40) is the first big international dust-up of the week. As much as it pains me, it is an inescapable reality that sprinters trained in Australia are just on a different level to the European-trained sprinters that are lining up in opposition to them this week. There are levels to everything and the level of the local sprinters simply isn’t world class. In contrast, the Bjorn Baker-trained OVERPASS is a world-class sprinter and I reckon he’ll show that to everyone on this stage.
While the Australians have enjoyed plenty of success with sprinters at Royal Ascot over the last 25 years, there have been a few busts thrown in there too. However, horses with profiles like that of Overpass, a seven-year-old gelding, appeal as being much the likeliest to reproduce something like their best form at Royal Ascot.
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Sky Sports Racing’s Sean Boyce previews the feature race from day one of Royal Ascot as 2000 Guineas winner Bow Echo stars in the St James’s Palace Stakes
The pick of his form puts him lengths clear of his rivals here, with him having run huge behind Ka Ying Rising in the Everest last October and essentially been in the mix of pretty much every Group One sprint that he could get involved in for the last few years. Interestingly, there is even a chance that this stiff five furlongs will prove ideal for him, as Group One opportunities over five furlongs in Australia are remarkably light in number, so he has spent most of his career showing great speed over six furlongs only to often fade close home.
I think he might just put on a show here and underline the gap between the hemispheres in this division.
The final race of interest is a real belter, the St James’s Palace Stakes (4.20). The focus of the contest is sure to be the rematch from the 2000 Guineas between Bow Echo and Gstaad. My own view is that the two should be a little closer together in price than they are, but the one that is the wrong price in the market at the time of writing is the Aidan O’Brien-trained PUERTO RICO.
Bow Echo and Billy Loughnane after victory in the 2000 Guineas
The son of Wootton Bassett was a teak-tough juvenile that raced eight times and progressed relentlessly from start to start. He really took off in terms of improvement when stepped up to seven furlongs and then a mile, winning the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp and the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. In fact, he finished the season with an official rating of 119 making him the equal of Gstaad and 4lb higher than Bow Echo.
Now, their fortunes have turned slightly this year, with Bow Echo producing a brilliant performance to beat Gstaad in the 2000 Guineas before Gstaad advertised that form with a fine victory of his own in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico let his supporters down when just fourth in the Poule d’Essai Des Poulains, but the market seems to have overreacted to that defeat. He is very comfortable making the running and it would be very dangerous for his rivals to underestimate him.
I can see him very much outrunning his odds.
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