Ascot – Friday
We’ve got a small but select team hitting the track for us this weekend, kicking off with Chasing Aphrodite at Ascot on Friday (15:35). We pulled him out from Sandown a few weeks ago on account of the going, but it looks like he’s going to get his preferred sounder surface on Friday. He seems very well at home, and to be honest, I think he slightly forgotten in the betting. There are others in here who, on paper, are less exposed than our guy, but I’d say we’re still relatively lightly raced. The Gosdens’ Mutaawid could be anything, but I think Chasing Aphrodite can give a good account of himself, and I’m excited to step him up in trip at a track he’s won at before.
It’s then onto Boadicia in a fillies’ handicap later on the card (16:45). She seems in nice form at home, and we simply put a line through her run at Newmarket the last day. We ended up making the running and I don’t think that suited, and neither did the track. We’re going to go back to what worked last time, which was a stiff five furlongs, as I think that’s more up her street. It’s obviously a tougher race than the one she won at Salisbury, but I think she can be quite competitive.
York – Saturday
For Saturday, we head up north to York with Ziggy (17:10), who’s been ultra-consistent this season, and, really, deserves to get his head in front. Ideally, we’d have had another week in between his last run and Saturday, but the race doesn’t have many runners and it looks like a nice opportunity. I’d say he’s in really good order still, and I think he’s bringing in some of the best form to the race. Yet again, the Gosden’s have got one in here, Theory Of Tides, who looks very unexposed, but we’re looking forward to taking our chance. The track is potentially a sticking point, as he hasn’t always run his best races there, but I still think it’s worth trying again given there were excuses for those performances. Roll on Saturday, as I hope he can get back into the winning groove.
King George and Goodwood thoughts
Saturday also sees some of the best horses in training clash in the King George at Ascot, and as a racing fan, it’s a race I’m very much looking forward to. Auguste Rodin definitely deserves to be favourite off the back of his Prince of Wales’s win, but as always with him, you’re never quite sure which Auguste Rodin is going to turn up! Rebel’s Romance looks like a worthy adversary and is rightly second favourite given his globetrotting exploits. However, and I might sound somewhat biased given he’s trained by my old boss William Haggas, but I thought that Dubai Honour looked overpriced at around 20/1. He’s been a star for the team across the globe, and if I had to back one, it’d probably be him.
We’re really in the thick of the Flat season now, and it’s fantastic that as soon as the King George is run, we’ll roll straight into Glorious Goodwood week. It’s great to see superstar stayer Kyprios turning up to win back the Goodwood Cup, but the race of the week is undoubtedly going to be the Sussex. Rosallion will have to contend with Notable Speech and Henry Longfellow again, but I really hope that Richard Hannon’s colt can do the business. He’s been sensational this year, and I think Goodwood will really play to his strengths. He almost reminds me of the Hannon Sr and Hughesie days with the way that Sean Levey delivers him to perfection late on. All being well, he can prove again he’s the top dog in the three-year-old mileing division.
In terms of my team for Goodwood, I wouldn’t have thought we’ll have a huge number of runners, but as I mentioned last week, I’m looking forward to running Divine Comedy. The plan is to go for the Lillie Langtry, particularly after she worked nicely this morning with two of my better horses, Crystal Delight and Docklands, both of whom are set for the Ebor Meeting next month. We’ll have more on her and the rest of the team next week, so stay tuned!
All the best,
Harry