11.50am Spencer booked for The Grey Gatbsy at Royal Ascot
Tony Paley: Jamie Spencer has picked up the ride on The Grey Gatsby in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot after the horse’s regular jockey, Ryan Moore, was claimed to Cannock Chase for Sir Michael Stoute.
Moore has ridden the Kevin Ryan-trained The Grey Gatsby since the pair’s victory in the Dante Stakes at York last year and was on board for his wins in the French Derby and Irish Champion Stake but Spencer has ridden The Grey Gatsby twice before, when second in the Craven and 10th in the 2,000 Guineas.
Free Eagle is likely to go off favourite for Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen in a race for which 10 have been declared. The lightly raced four-year-old has not been seen since finishing third in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October on just his fourth ever run.
Adding an international flavour, which is going to be a central part of Royal Ascot this year, are California Chrome and Criterion. California Chrome was narrowly beaten in a Breeders’ Cup Classic last season and finished second in the Dubai World Cup this campaign.
Australian challengers are no strangers to Ascot but they usually run in the sprints, not over 10 furlongs like Criterion, who beat Red Cadeaux back in April.
The French challengers are Ectot, a winner of six of his eight races, and Gailo Chop, second in the Prix d’Ispahan last time out. There is a Japanese runner in the shape of Spielberg, who won the Tenno Sho, one of the biggest races in Japan.
John Gosden’s Western Hymn has won the Gordon Richards and Brigadier Gerard Stakes this season, while David Simock’s The Corsican completes the field. The only horse not declared on Monday morning was the Gosden-trained Eagle Top who runs in the Hardwicke Stakes at the meeting on Saturday.
Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
I was just having a conversation with a bookmaker (don’t judge me) and we agreed that Royal Ascot is very attractively structured from a layer’s perspective. It starts on the Tuesday with three Group Ones that are often won by popular, well-backed horses, so everyone has a winner and feels very clever and flush.
After that, the Group Ones are rationed to one a day (plus one extra on the Friday from this year), while the rest of the card fills up with impossible handicaps and other traps. The meeting climaxes with a Saturday card on which punters can take a complete bath, thanks to the huge-field Diamond Jubilee and the good-luck-with-that-project Wokingham.
My friend assures me that “If there’s one meeting of the year over which we have no control, it’s Royal Ascot” but I’m beginning to have my doubts. Anyway, good luck to you all with your Berkshire betting from tomorrow and do try our daily tips competitions, which are a good way of getting involved without cost (see below).
Can you wait until Windsor’s penultimate race for today’s best bet? You have to be careful with maidens but I do like 15-8 about Syrdarya (8.20). A three-parts sister to a Moyglare winner, she came from well back on her debut at Goodwood to be third. The winner has since followed up in a Listed contest, while the runner-up has won a maiden.
I’m not sure it’s encouraging to see a hood fitted this time but Ralph Beckett’s filly is open to a lot of improvement on this second start and she looks the stand-out in this field. The market disagrees, siding with Godolphin’s Think Ahead, but he will surely be vulnerable on his first start since November 2013 and shouldering 10 stone.
Rachel Richardson is having a good season with her rides for Tim Easterby and they came within a head of another winner at York on Saturday. At Carlisle today, she gets her first try on Another Royal (2.45), a filly who won twice at Redcar in the autumn.
I’m not sure she quite got home when third in a big field on soft ground at Thirsk last time but it was still a fine effort and I think she can win off this mark with a useful claimer aboard. Fast ground is fine.
Later, Three Gracez (3.45) also has a new pilot in Graham Lee, having done well in three runs under Tom Marquand last month, winning two and going close last time. She’s still improving and is not harshly treated.
William Hill Royal Ascot tipping competitions start tomorrow
Congratulations to BatmanKaisers, who finished strongly with Gran Canaria Queen (7-1) to pinch last week’s competition by a matter of pennies with a final score of +12.75 against the +12.63 achieved by yasmin11, winnerless on Friday. In fairness to Batman, he also came within half a length of a 25-1 winner in Friday’s first race. Congratulations, sir! We’ll be in touch by email or Bat-Signal, whichever is best for you.
This week, as usual for Ascot week, we’ll be running a separate competition on each day. You’ll be asked to pick a horse in each race at Ascot on that particular day and whoever does best will win a £50 bet from those generous folk at William Hill! So, that’s four chances to win a prize. How can you miss?
For today, do please let us know what you’re backing in the hope of building up funds for the greatest Flat meeting and then join us back here tomorrow, when the fun will really begin.
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