Buckaroo to play Games with his Wolferton rivals June 19, 2023 AS HAS become the norm at Royal Ascot, the five-day meeting gets underway with the Queen Anne Stakes (2.30pm) and this year’s renewal, on paper at least, looks a cracker. The market is finding it hard to split Inspiral and MODERN GAMES, but while I respect the former hugely, I’m firmly in the latter’s camp. [...]
Time to get aboard Royal Scotsman in St James’s Palace June 19, 2023 TODAY’S third and final Group One, the St James’s Palace Stakes (4.20pm) pits the winner of the English and Irish 2000 Guineas against each other as CHALDEAN takes on Paddington. Some have crabbed the form of Chaldean’s 2000 Guineas win, but I thought he was much the best at Newmarket and bar unseating Frankie Dettori [...]
Bring on the Ascot Stakes for Mullins’ unexposed Night June 19, 2023 THERE was a sense of disappointment for favourite backers in last year’s Ascot Stakes (5.00pm) when BRING ON THE NIGHT couldn’t get past Coltrane having been produced perfectly inside the final furlong. Looking back on that performance now, it can be seriously upgraded considering Coltrane is rated nearly 20lbs higher and is favourite for Thursday’s [...]
There is a Point in taking on Vauban with Chillingham June 19, 2023 EVERY year there are always a few horses that punters latch onto in the ante-post markets in the build-up to Royal Ascot and this season one of those is most definitely Vauban in the Copper Horse Handicap (6.10pm). Last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner and this season’s Champion Hurdle fourth was originally recruited from the flat [...]
All systems go for Royal Ascot as Wellington trials well at Sha Tin June 13, 2023 HONG Kong-based trainer Richard Gibson has declared “it’s all systems go” for Wellington to embark on a Royal Ascot tilt next week after Hong Kong’s reigning Champion Sprinter cruised through a five-furlong turf trial at Sha Tin this morning. Preparing for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on 24 June, Wellington finished half a [...]
Take four outsiders to cause Derby shock June 2, 2023 WE ALL know that one man usually dominates the headlines in Flat racing, but if Frankie Dettori wins today’s Derby (1.30pm), then it really will be a story that not only takes over the back pages of tomorrow’s newspapers, but likely the front ones too. The Italian has pretty much won everything there is to [...]
Dettori chilled ahead of Derby farewell June 2, 2023 EPSOM’s weighing room will be full of tension, nerves and anticipation on Saturday afternoon, as 14 jockeys prepare for the most revered horse race in the world, the Derby. Yet, the man who’s getting a leg-up in the race for the final time is showing no such emotion. Frankie Dettori, who announced his retirement from [...]
Grand National stage looks set for Delta to Work his magic April 15, 2023 THERE’s nothing quite like the Randox Grand National (Saturday, 5:15pm) it’s a race that inspires dreams and writes its own script. It can change the careers of trainers and jockeys in an instant, or the approximate nine minutes that it takes to negotiate 30 formidable fences and four-miles two-furlongs around Aintree’s famous track. In recent [...]
Demachine a monster price at 25/1 to win Topham April 12, 2023 WITH plenty of rain in the air, the best short-priced bet on Friday’s Aintree card could well be GERRI COLOMBE in the opening Mildmay Novices’ Chase (1.45pm). Gordon Elliott’s seven-year-old was arguably unlucky not to reel in The Real Whacker at Cheltenham and the return to a more conventional track will help too. Davy Russell [...]
Zanahiyr to chase home superstar Constitution Hill April 12, 2023 YOU DON’T need me to tell you that the star of the show on Thursday is Constitution Hill, and barring one of the biggest shocks in living memory, he will win the William Hill Aintree Hurdle (3.30pm) with ease. His price of 1/8 suggests just that and the fact firms are betting on how far [...]
