I fancy my 12-1 outsider to spring a shock on day one of Royal Ascot
WEEKS of preparation are about to be put to the test as Royal Ascot gets going.
The build-up to this meeting is the most stressful period of the season for trainers as it’s the Cheltenham Festival of the Flat.
We had an amazing year in 2021 with four winners across the week, but it rarely goes that smoothly as we saw 12 months ago, when the team frustratingly drew a blank.
I’d be absolutely gutted if the same happened again this week, as we’ve a nice, big team heading down the motorway with several good chances.
We have a team of five on day one, and we kick off with COOL HOOF LUKE (3.05) in the Coventry, the horse we named after top darts player Luke Humphries.
He won nicely on his debut at Chelmsford but we have no idea if he is going to be up to this sort of level. It’s a roll of the dice, but if he hits the bullseye we will all be over the moon.
It’s a bit of an experiment dropping PUROSANGUE (3.45) back to five furlongs in the King Charles III Stakes.
He ran really well on his return in the Pavilion Stakes but ran no race whatsoever at Haydock, and there was no obvious reason why.
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Some horses just don’t act up there, so we are putting a line through it and hope he can hit the frame at a nice price, because it doesn’t look a strong race outside of Big Evs.
BERKSHIRE ROCCO (5.05) is a yard favourite and should run his usual solid race. It’s a step into the unknown over this new trip, but if he stays I think he has a squeak.
NOTRE BELLE BETE (5.40) is a lovely and consistent horse, but the Wolferton is always a very tough race and this year is no different.
And in the lucky last, I’d fancy ALSAKIB (6.15) to run a big one.
He drops in class having run well at Group 3 level and you’d say on paper he is our best chance of the day, but he isn’t helped by his draw in stall 16.
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