Neil Morrice brings us all of his best bets and tips for Thursday’s racing at Royal Ascot including an in-depth preview of the Group 1 Gold Cup.
Royal Ascot Day 3
Thursday at Royal Ascot means only one thing… it’s Ladies’ Day and topping the bill is the Group 1 Gold Cup, this year promising to yield one of its best winners as reigning champion STRADIVARIUS faces up to three particularly strong pretenders to his crown.
Stradivarius never does anything spectacularly but has a rarely seen fighting spirit, and under Frankie Dettori the John Gosden-trained runner will tenaciously try to serve up a repeat of his 2018 triumph under the Italian.
However, he now faces a much stronger field of opponents, with three standing out as major threats to his dominance providing they stay… step in CROSS COUNTER, DEE EX BEE and KEW GARDENS (now withdrawn).
Cross Counter certainly races like a horse that wants to go further, and it seems astonishing now that the Melbourne Cup and Dubai Gold Cup winner was beaten in a handicap at this meeting 12 months ago.
Dee Ex Bee is the sort of old fashioned stayer that Mark Johnston has been pining for since the day’s of Double Trigger. Good enough to finish placed in the Derby and St Leger, he’s going to prove a tough foe to peg back.
Kew Gardens looked all over the winner of the Coronation Cup and has shown in subsequent work for Aidan O’Brien that he’s a staying star in chrysalis.
O’Brien has won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes three times in the past five years and has supplemented FLEETING into the contest. The Investec Oaks winner will give it a good shot against a formidable rival in Sir Michael Stoute’s QUEEN POWER.
Stoute fields a dark horse for the Hampton Court Stakes in the shape of SANGARIUS who looked very decent as a juvenile and worked well when Frankie Dettori had a sit on him last weekend.
The day’s opener is the Norfolk Stakes in which Wesley Ward fields a genuine protagonist in MAVEN. And although the colt had to work to justify long odds on when debuting at Aqueduct he is considered the kind of speedball that his trainer excels with.
Gold Cup Preview
Race 4 – 17:20
Horses like STRADIVARIUS used to be as rare as the violin he is named after, and when John Gosden’s charge scooped a million pounds bonus for landing the Cup triple crown last year few thought it was achievable. But as Frankie Dettori’s mount limbers up for a repeat attempt he finds himself challenged by a trio of hugely talented pretenders and will have to at his very best to land the spoils.
In CROSS COUNTER Sheikh Mohammed has a potent threat to the favourite, a horse that since being beaten in a handicap here 12 months ago has scaled peaks that include the historic Melbourne Cup and the newly formed Dubai Gold Cup. Charlie Appleby’s contender landed the last-named Meydan contest when not fully tuned up and if proving he stays will pose serious problems to Stradivarius.
Mark Johnston has been without the kind of old fashioned galloping stayer that he excels with for a few years but the Middleham trainer believes DEE EX BEE could be just the type of horse to bring the jewels of the staying division back to his Kingsley House base and device memories of Double Trigger and Royal Rebel. Dee Ex Bee was good enough to place in a Derby and St Leger and looked more than ready for this step into the big league when winning the Henry II Stakes at Sandown last month.
*Aidan O’Brien bids for an incredible eighth win in the race with KEW GARDENS who carries a wave of confidence from over the Irish Sea and could be the horse the heavy hitters in the betting ring latch onto. Things didn’t go to plan for Ryan Moore’s mount at Chester but he left that Form behind in the Coronation Cup, where though unable to cope with Defoe he looked right back to his best. *KEW GARDENS has now been withdrawn.
Adding international allure to the outstanding race of the day is the presence of French-trained CALLED TO THE BAR who nevertheless has his work cut out to match it with the ‘big four’.
Neil Morrice’s Predicted Finish
1st CROSS COUNTER (6)
2nd Kew Gardens (SCR)
3rd Stradivarius (4)
4th Dee Ex Bee (8)
Royal Ascot Day 3 Best Bets
Race 1: MAVEN (8)
Trainer: Wesley Ward
Jockey: T Gaffalione
At first sight, there’s nothing special about the credentials MAVEN brings into this Norfolk Stakes, but that’s without taking stock of the record and reputation of his trainer who rarely leaves the meeting empty-handed. The selection had to be asked a question to land the odds of 2-5 laid on him on his Aqueduct debut but the experience has put the cutting edge on him and Ward knows he can cut the mustard at this level.
Race 3: QUEEN POWER (8) (Nap)
Trainer: Sir Michael Stoute
Jockey: Silvestre de Sousa
The lightly raced QUEEN POWER skipped a tilt at the Investec Oaks to wait for the Ribblesdale and looks to be her jockey’s best chance of a winner at the meeting. She finished strongly to catch Lavender’s Blue on her latest start at Newbury which augers well for this step up to a mile and a half. She has trained beautifully and connections are confident she’ll handle the cut in the ground.
Race 6: CONSTANTINOPLE (1)
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien
Jockey: Ryan Moore
Top weight and Group 3 winner CONSTANTINOPLE has plenty going for him in this King George V Handicapped can take down these if showing he can handle the cut in the ground. There was a move for him over the weekend and it’s likely that he’ll start favourite, although at the same time I can pass on favourable messages for Sinjaari and Severance. It wouldn’t totally surprise me if one of those upset the applecart.
