You should put a few quid on Cox’s Britannia contender
TODAY’S Britannia Stakes (5.00pm) is another incredibly tricky race to work out with a whole host of the 30-runner field looking like types who have bundles of improvement in them.
Appealing cases can be made for several, but I was pretty keen on WHOPUTFIFTYINYOU in the days leading up to this and after Tuesday’s St James’s Palace, my confidence has only increased.
That’s because the horse that finished fifth that day, Mighty Ulysses, was beaten by Whoputfiftyinyou at Haydock last time and that’s form that surely means he must go close here.
His half-length victory improved his unbeaten record to four from four and he just seems to keep improving despite running in better races each time.
The way Clive Cox’s horse surged past a strong field was in the style of a good horse and while he’s up 10 pounds for the victory, he could easily still be way better than a mark of 98.
This race often suits horses who pounce late, which should play to this horse’s strengths perfectly and he looks very solid at 6/1 with William Hill.
As mentioned, this is one of the hardest races of the week to find the winner of and I definitely want to throw two darts at the board.
The other one I like the look of is Charlie Fellowes’ ATRIUM, who seems to be a different horse on the straight course at Ascot.
He won a novice contest here as a two-year-old over seven furlongs and then absolutely bolted up on his most recent outing over a mile.
Some horses just thrive at certain courses and this is another who seems to fall into that category.
A rise of seven pounds makes his life harder, but he could make light work of his new mark if in anything like the form he was last time.
Fellowes’ horses have been running well recently and he’ll be hopeful his three-year-old gelding can give him another Royal Ascot winner at 16/1.
Of the remainder, Charlie Hills’ Wanees should run well after his good win in the Esher Cup at Sandown last time.
Hills has always held the son of Le Havre in high-regard, and he won a quick ground novice contest on his only appearance at Ascot.
He should run well, but I’ll stick with Whoputfiftyinyou and Atrium as my two against the field.
POINTERS
Whoputfiftyinyou 5.00pm Ascot
Atrium 5.00pm Ascot