Friday is Commonwealth Cup Day at Royal Ascot and while that race (15:05) might not be the strongest renewal, it’ll be interesting to see which of the three-year-olds best advertise their sprinting credentials. The obvious horse who stands out is Shadow Of Light. Charlie Appleby hasn’t had a great meeting, but his contender really catches the eye. He ran very well to be third in the Guineas where he travelled strongly just to be outstayed by Ruling Court and Field Of Gold. Dropped back to this stiff six furlongs, he should be right at home. One at a bigger price worth considering is Big Mojo. He’s a course and distance winner after landing the Commonwealth Cup Trial and he might just outrun his odds for Mick Appleby.
In the Coronation Stakes (16:20), Zarigana must be respected as the French Guineas winner for Francis-Henri Graffard. However, it’s Falakeyah who’s the one I really like here. She’s two-from-two, starting off in a Wolves maiden before sluicing up on her next outing in the Pretty Polly at Newmarket. Connections decided to pay over £40,000 to supplement her and I think they could be about to get their money back, as this is a proper filly. Chantilly Lace could be one for each-way punters. She ran a really good fifth in the Guineas and you’d expect her to step forward from Newmarket.
The Albany (14:30) kicks off Friday’s card and after Aidan O’Brien’s stunning record in the two-year-old races this week, Signora could be the one to side with here. The master of Ballydoyle’s juveniles have been flying and she could be hard to beat if she’s in the same form as the likes of Gstaad, True Love and Charles Darwin. Of the others, Gold Digger was a brilliant debut winner at Yarmouth, and basically never came off the bridle. She and Awaken pulled a long way clear of the rest, so those two could be worth chancing too.
The King Edward VII (17:35) sees the Amiloc put his unbeaten record on the line. Ralph Beckett’s gelding is one of the highest rated horses in the race and I expect him to take this step up in class in his stride. Wimbledon Hawkeye is in there too, and while he is the top-rated in the field, he needs to bounce back to winning form after a few defeats. You can’t rule out Puppet Master for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore given the week they’re having, and I’d also give a mention to Johnny Murtagh’s Zahrann. I’d expect this to be a close contest and for us to enjoy watching Amiloc make it five-from-five.
All the best,
Neil