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| Black Caviar - Classy Lady |
The Queen got her vase back yesterday........
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| Gay Kelleway |
Given the emergence of lady jockeys at the very top levels of racing these days, it's astounding that the only Gay Kelleway (now a trainer) is the only female to have ever ridden a Royal Ascot winne (Sprowston Boy in the Queen Alexandra Stakes 1987).
There's a whole pool of talented XX chromosomes swarmingthrough the apprentice ranks right now so I don't think that Gay will be holding on to that particular accolade for very many more years but she'll always be the first.
A quick zoom through tomorrow's Ascot :
14:30 Chesham Stakes
There are three runners in this field holding group 1 entries: Move To Strike, Chilworth Icon and Frege - which given that the past two winners (Maybe and Ziadan) went on to win group races later that year could be significant. Chilworth Icon has a penalty though which I think will prevent the win here. Frege only managed fourth on her debut in a class 6 and will do extremely well to be in the shake up (Brian Meehan's current 1 win from 23 in the past fortnight isn't too tempting either). Move To Strike was bred and is trained by Jim Bolger and owned by his wife and is a far more tempting prospect. The way he won going away by 9 length last time at the Curragh iwas impressive and the three group entries would suggest that connections think a lot of this one.
- Move To Strike UP (4th)
- Chilworth Icon e/w UP (5th)
A tasty draw bias stat for this race means is 14 of the past 20 winners have been drawn high with 3 from the middle stalls and 3 from low. I won't discount the middle drawn runners but the low ones are off the list (sorry Sea Moon)! The past six runnings have seem Sir Stoutey win three times (both this years runners are drawn low), Ballydoyle have won twice (only runner drawn 1) and John Gosden has won once. French raider Dunaden is very interesting with wins in the Hong Kong Vase and the Melbourne Cup at the back end of last season. Red Cadeux looks as if he needs further than this these days and the stable aren't really firing on all cylinders at the moment. Aiken is the Gosden runner ridden by yesterday's Ascot trebler and Newmarket doubler William Buick. He has won his last six outings including at C&D (his only defeat was in his maiden last June) and is game as you like and as long as there's cut in the ground he has an excellent chance.
- Aiken UP (4th)
- Dunaden e/w 2nd
15:45 Diamond Jubilee Stakes
Really? Do I even have to type anything in this space......except see above? C&D winner Society Rock could follow behind for the forecast though with both the trainer and jockeys superb records here.
- Black Caviar 1st
- Society Rock e/w UP (5th)
16:25 Wokingham Stakes
The past ten runnings of this have been won by 4 or 5 years except on one occasion. Johnny Murtagh has ridden the winner the past twice so C&D winner Gramercy would be the first port of call here. He could be perfectly positioned with his middle draw for Johnny to choose which side to race (and he'll know which will be best by this stage in the afternoon!). Maarek has some enviable form in big fields like this but has been put up 6lb by the handicapper but this is workable given his recent improvement. King Of Jazz would seem to be more of a 7f horse but that stamina could be very useful if Hayley can make use of it to get to the front early on. A big priced runner to take a second look at is Oasis Dancer who should be judged on his penultimate run rather than the inadequate 5f last time. Although he's been seen mainly on polytrack, his has won on turf and his breeding suggests he can cope with some cut (never run on worse than good). Several bookies are paying the first five places so I'll coverall my mentions in small each ways! Order of preference is:
- Maarek UP (6th)
- Gramercy UP
- King Of Jazz UP
- Oasis Dancer e/w (pennies!) UP
17:00 Duke of Edinburgh Handicap
Recalling the earlier mile and a half draw bias, I'm going to concentrate again on the middle to high draw here. Of these, I have swiftly dismissed all but two. Camborne ridden by that man Buick for Gosden again and Anatolian the Godolphin runner ridden by come back King Frankie (Barzalona is at Newmarket today). 4 and 5 year old winners have again dominated this race in the recent past and these two are both 4. Anatolian can be ridden held up or from the front whereas will wait to pounce. I think (hope!) we should see a good ding dong between these two in the closing stages and with any other rider aboard Anatolian then I'd opt for Camborne emerging the victor but with Frankie up there stoking away, Anatolian might just spring a surprise.
- Camborne 1st
- Anatolian e/w UP
17:35 Queen Alexandra Stakes
I had to do a double take when I saw one of my Tote Top Ten to Follow Jumps 2010 picks in here, American Trilogy. He has been such an unlucky horse, missing a season through injury and then falling at the first on his reappearance (and again the next time out) that he must detest jumping now so this will be a lovely day out. I have to admit (in case you hadn't noticed!) to a sentimental attachment for this horse but I do think he is in with shout. Simenon won here on Tuesday and didn't look to have too hard a race but I can't bring myself to back a horse who just race such distance and then is attempting it again 4 days later. Overturn was last seen carrying the Olympic torch into Chester (alright it was jockey Jason Maguire carrying the torch while riding Overturn) and was keeping on when last seen so the additional 2f shouldn't be any problem whatsoever. Any of the runners who have any sort of question mark over stamina (and there are quite a few) can expect to be watching Overturn's smoking heels. Seaside Sizzler is interesting in that he definitely gets the trip and had recently had a pipe opener. He's a big price and there could be some place value there!
- Overturn UP
- American Trilogy e/w UP
- Seaside Sizzler e/w UP (6th - best of these three!)
Good luck and the blog shall be having a few days of rest after a busy few days!
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