Entries for the Wokingham Stakes and Royal Hunt Cup were published earlier this week and I was instantly drawn to the three horses left in the latter race by Joseph O’Brien, who will be desperate to open his Royal Ascot account as a trainer this summer and looks pretty well set to do so given the strength of his 2022 team overall.
Granted, Alessandro Algardi isn’t qualified as things stand as he’s only raced twice which falls short of the three required to participate in a Hunt Cup, while San Andreas is seemingly well in the grip of the assessor, and probably a good deal better on all-weather surfaces these days anyway.
That leaves TOSHIZOU and he’s a fascinating, lightly-raced colt who looks worth getting on side at the early odds – anything 16/1 or bigger represents fair value.
A son of Galileo out of Remember You, he’s very closely related to 2019 Windsor Castle winner Southern Hills so it wouldn’t be a surprise if O’Brien has had the Royal meeting in mind for this horse for a while.
That could even date back to last spring after he made a promising comeback behind Kyprios over 10 furlongs at Cork in April, but the horse presumably suffered a setback at some point soon after as he subsequently spent 107 days off the track - missing Ascot and the bulk of the summer - before posting another cracking effort when fourth in a mile handicap at the Curragh in August.
He simply failed to fire when sent off second-favourite (7/1) for the Irish Cambridgeshire later that month but got straight back on the right path with a fast-finishing second on his seasonal return at Limerick recently (replay below).
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The now four-year-old looked an unlucky loser that day as winner, Breaking Story, got first run and Declan McDonogh suffered a bit of trouble approaching the final furlong before running on strongly, and the Irish handicapper has perhaps unsurprisingly nudged him up a few pounds to a mark of 99.
That’s not ideal on the face of it but will at least ensure the horse makes the cut for Ascot next month and he’s just the sort of lightly-raced, potential improver you need on side in this event, while his ability to stay further than the bare mile is another major asset in what will no doubt be a maximum field of 30.
At the top of the market we have one-time Derby fancy One Ruler, one of five representing Charlie Appleby, who has been left on a mark of 107 for his Ascot comeback run over seven furlongs. That looks stiff enough for the time being.
A bigger threat may be posed by Sir Michael Stoute’s sole entry – last year’s runner-up Astro King. He’s won when fresh in the past and was pretty strong in the market on his first start of the current campaign in the Thirsk Hunt Cup last month, but we definitely didn’t see the best of him there.
He was bumped along at the time but kept running up the back of rivals in the final furlong and a half, and looked to pass the post with loads left in the tank. He’s another one who probably could have done with the handicapper shaving a couple of pounds off, though, as the five-year-old remains 13lb higher than for his last success which came in April 2021.
Sunday also saw a major market move for Nottingham winner Dark Shift - he's into 14/1 and as short as 10/1 joint-favourite with one firm. In short, there was a lot to like about the grey's weekend performance but the turn of foot he showed could leave connections pondering a drop back to seven furlongs so I'm happy enough to watch this space with him.
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