Royal Ascot At Home – as the meeting has been rebranded for, hopefully, one year only – poses even more challenges for punters than it would normally. There are not only more races – 36, rather than 30 – but the horses that have managed to get a run since racing resumed on 1 June will be arriving at Ascot only two weeks later. Will they progress, or bounce? And how fit will the first-time-up runners be after eight months or more on the sidelines? Backers should proceed with caution.
There will still be no shortage of short-priced favourites in the Group One contests, though, as the brilliant sprinter Baattash (King’s Stand Stakes), last year’s International Stakes winner Japan (in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes) and dual Gold Cup winner Stradivarius line up for the feature events on the first three days of the meeting.
Both Baattash and Stradivarius look rock solid for their respective targets, albeit at odds-on in both cases (and just over 6-4 for the double), while Japan progressed throughout 2019 and will also be very difficult to beat if Aidan O’Brien has him anywhere close to peak fitness.
The same applies to Roger Varian’s Pierre Lapin in Friday’s Commonwealth Cup, while the fast-improving Palace Pier looked like a Group One horse in a handicap at Newcastle last weekend and is an interesting opponent for Pinatubo in the St James’s Palace Stakes on the final day.
Horses that could run well at more attractive odds include Kaeso, who has gone close in big fields at Ascot several times in the past, in the opening Buckingham Palace Handicap, and Kipps in the King George V Handicap the following day. Montatham, meanwhile, has been raised 8lb for his win at Newmarket last week but finished in a time that suggests he will still have something in hand if he lines up for Wednesday’s Royal Hunt Cup.
Tuesday 1.15 Kaeso, 1.50 Fox Chairman, 2.25 Frankly Darling, 3.00 Mogul, 3.35 Baattash, 4.10 Jubiloso, 4.40 Blue Laureate.
Wednesday 1.15 Hieronymus, 1.50 First Receiver, 2.25 Kipps, 3.00 Japan, 3.35 Montatham, 4.10 Sunshine City, 4.40 Medal Winner.
Thursday 1.15 Finest Sound, 1.50 Regal Reality, 2.25 King Leonidas, 3.00 Battleground, 3.35 Stradivarius, 4.10 Dance Fever, 4.40 Declared Interest.
Friday 1.15 Dream Shot, 1.50 More Beautiful, 2.25 Eye Of Heaven, 3.00 Old Persian, 3.35 Pierre Lapin, 4.10 Berkshire Rocco, 4.40 Almania.
Saturday (first race 12.40): 3.00 Palace Pier, 3.35 Sceptical.