Take on the favourites with this 53-1 double featuring a Group 1 winner who’s roaring back to life

ANTE-POST punting is all about working out how races will pan out in future – and pouncing when the bookies look to have the wrong prices.

With top quality Flat races coming thick and fast, it can be tricky to know where to look.

But trainer comments can prove absolutely crucial in that situation.

And some telling words from Aidan O’Brien lead me to believe Kyprios has to be taken on at Ascot’s Champions Day.

The supreme stayer of his age, Kyprios came back from the dead to win the Gold Cup again this year.

The only horse who’s got to close to him over extreme distances has been John Gosden’s Trawlerman.

The two fought it out in an absolute humdinger at Champions Day last year and Trawlerman’s victory meant he was the last horse to beat King Kyp.

But trainer O’Brien has already hinted the upcoming Irish St Leger could well be Kyprios’ last race of the season.

The Ballydoyle boss wants to keep one of his most prized assets wrapped in cotton wool ahead of a tilt at a third Gold Cup next year.

Sure, the Prix Du Cadran at Longchamp on Arc weekend (October 5-6) is a possible, as is Champions Day.

But both? With there being just two weeks between them, I can’t see it.

And, though Kyprios was entered in the Long Distance Cup, O’Brien didn’t mention Ascot as a possible destination when speaking most recently.

Trawlerman missed the Goodwood Cup owing to his exploits at Ascot and, like Kyprios, has been entered in the Prix Du Cadran.

But we know Trawlerman, assuming he is now fit and healthy, loves Ascot and has run in the past two Long Distance Cups.

At 5-1 he looks, to me, decent value with the signs 6-4 Kyprios won’t take part.

From longer trips to rapid sprinters for the second leg of our double – and Bradsell.

It’s hard to believe he’s still only four but these speedsters don’t tend to have long careers.

Indeed, Bradsell, who is trained by Archie Watson, was coming back from a year off when making all in a Listed race under Hollie Doyle at Deauville last weekend.

His next target, the Nunthorpe at York’s Ebor meeting, is being billed as the decider between King Charles III Stakes winner Asfoora and King George Qatar Stakes winner Big Evs.

Goodwood’s downhill start and a bumpy ride were being put up as excuses for Asfoora not making it 2-0 over Big Evs.

And the betting currently has Asfoora as confirming superiority over red-hot Mick Appleby’s Breeders’ Cup winner.

But it’s worth remembering Asfoora is not a special sprinter back home in Australia and, I think, York also has the potential for a couple to get first run on her out the stalls.

She finishes ever so strong, but I can see her being tapped for toe ever so slightly, with Big Evs and Bradsell – a dual Royal Ascot winner – being allowed to hare off.

York’s finish is not as stiff as Ascot’s so they should be less susceptible to closers.

Big Evs will be 6lbs worse off with Asfoora this time while Bradsell will carry 3lbs more than the Ozzie mare.

But Live In The Dream proved weight isn’t the absolute be all and end all when a race is run to suit as he carred 9-13 to win last year too.

You can back the double at 53-1.

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