The fortnight or so between Epsom’s Derby meeting and Royal Ascot – which opens on 19 June – inevitably sees a dip in the quality of the horses on the track, but the programme is full to bursting point with fixtures and there seem to be more than enough horses to fill the races.
Leicester’s card this afternoon has two 17-runner handicaps and a 16-strong maiden, while Windsor this evening has double-figure fields throughout the card and the average field is more than 10 at Ayr as well.
There is even a Classic winner on the card at Leicester in the shape of Unforgetable Filly, who took the German equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas last year. She has yet to race this season, however, and seems unlikely to cope with Roger Varian’s progressive Sheikha Reika (3.10), one of only two runners on today’s Flat cards that seems likely to set off at odds-on.
Beringer (3.40) offers a better rate of return in the subsequent handicap. Alan King has a solid record with his relatively small number of runners on the Flat, and does particularly well with three-year-old handicappers at middle distances, where he has an 18% strike rate over the past five years. Beringer fits the profile well and looks ready to register a first win since last July now having finished a good second in a fair time at Newmarket last month despite looking ill at ease on the track.
Silent Echo (7.15) will be hard to beat in the sprint handicap at Windsor this evening, while Nazzaa (7.45) could prove to be an interesting each-way chance on the same card. Few horses can have depreciated as thoroughly as Steve Flook’s gelding, who cost 550,000 Guineas as a yearling but had lost 99.9% of his value by the time he was sold for just £600 as a three-year-old.
The original price was due to Nazzaa’s pedigree, as he is a half-brother by Shamardal to Elusive Wave, a French Guineas winner in 2009. Flook’s £600 investment has already been rewarded with a win at Nottingham last August, and since Nazzaa’s pedigree also includes stayers, it is just possible that he will find a little more improvement as he steps up in trip today.
Luis Vas De Torres (7.30) beat two subsequent winners last time and should go well at Ayr, while Muscika (8.00) was successful in the card’s sprint handicap last year and is 4lb lower in the weights now.
Leicester 2.10 Two Blondes 2.40 Sterling Silva 3.10 Sheikha Reika
3.40 Beringer (nap) 4.10 Global Conqueror 4.40 Armed 5.10 Twin Appeal 5.40 Kachumba
Newton Abbot 2.20 Massini’s Dream 2.50 Bandsman 3.20 Level Of Intensity 3.50 It’s Obvious 4.20 Iniesta 4.50 Free Stone Hill 5.25 Amour D’Or
Windsor 5.45 Iconic Knight 6.15 Queen Of Bermuda 6.45 Buffer Zone 7.15 Silent Echo (nb) 7.45 Nazzaa 8.15 Cassini 8.45 Reverberation
Ayr 6.00 Dream Today 6.30 Nuns Walk 7.00 Star Cracker 7.30 Luis Vaz De Torres 8.00 Muscika 8.30 Sang Tiger 9.00 Rebel State
