Fran Berry Royal Ascot column
Fran Berry looks ahead to Royal Ascot with thoughts on some of the key races at the start of the week and his three Wednesday rides.
After a successful weekend thanks to winners on Via Serendipity and Eula Varner it’d be great to keep the momentum going at Royal Ascot this week.
I’ve got three rides on Wednesday but before that it’s worth focusing on the big races on the opening day at Ascot.
This year’s Queen Anne Stakes has a really open look to it and plenty of them have one or two questions to answer. Benbatl is dropping in distance and Beat The Bank has to step up on his comeback, while the Century Dream is up in class and Lord Glitters would be more of a threat on soft.
Limato is a horse I have a lot of time for and have ridden him in his work at bit at home. He feels a lot more like a miler these days than a sprinter and he’s a July Cup winner who wasn’t beaten far in last year’s Diamond Jubilee.
Henry Candy’s horses were under a little bit of a cloud when he reappeared in the Lockinge but they’re firing nicely now and he could certainly step up on the form of that Newbury effort.
I’m a fan of Deauville and I think he could be the each-way value but stablemate Rhododendron is probably going to be hard to beat again getting weight from the boys. She was really tough in the Lockinge and the stiffer track at Ascot will play to her strengths.
The Coventry Stakes is a fascinating clash and one which looks bound to produce a future star. It’s Aidan O’Brien’s Sergei Prokofiev versus John Gosden’s Calyx at the top of the market and either one could a bit special.
At a bigger price I could see Vange going well for Richard Fahey. He looked very strong at the line when winning at Chester and looks on a pretty steep upward curve.
The King’s Stand is one to sit back and enjoy. Lady Aurelia looks like blazing a trail again and it’s going to be a case of whether anything can run her down. Battaash is the obvious one but I am slightly drawn to Different League. It looks significant Ryan Moore is on her and she’s clearly taken a run or two for the O’Brien team to get to grips with her.
She won at last year’s meeting for previous connections and will love the ground as it was seriously quick 12 months ago.
The St James’s Palace possibly lacks a star at this stage and personally I don’t see much value in the price of Without Parole. Looking at him at Sandown, he looked like he maybe wanted a step up in trip and win, lose or draw there’s no real mileage in his price.
Romanised arguably capitalised on a strong pace in the Irish 2,000 Guineas – they got racing quite early on – and I wouldn’t be that surprised to see U S Navy Flag reverse that form.
Tip Two Win is obviously the fairytale story for his stable and his Guineas form could hardly be stronger. The race may be tactical and that could be the deciding factor.
Onto Wednesday and I kick off with Kurious in the Queen Mary Stakes. She was very sharp in the early stages when winning first time out and beat a well-touted newcomer of Clive Cox’s that day.
I haven’t sat on her since that win but I saw her the other day and she looks fantastic. She’ll have to improve a lot to be winning a Queen Mary but Henry Candy’s horses always improve for a first run and excited by her.
Sovereign Duke is a horse I have high hopes for as he progresses this season. He made a good comeback over a trip short of his best. It would have been nice to get another run into him but he’s been working nicely in recent weeks.
He goes there in good shape and the extra distance will benefit him, for sure, as will the good ground. He will improve over time and whatever he does this week I’d say he’s one to definitely need a close eye on for the rest of the year.
What’s The Story is a nice ride to pick up in the Royal Hunt Cup for Keith Dalgleish. He won a handicap at Newcastle just a fortnight ago and the penalty he gets for that means he sneaks into the big race. The draw is going to be significant but it’s hard to know whether stall 19 is good or not so we’ll have to see how things pan out over the first few races of the meeting.
Thursday’s feature is obviously the Gold Cup and for me Order Of St George is going to take the world of beating. Stradivarius is the one on the up and was quite impressive but the key for me is that Order Of St George has looked so smooth in his two runs this season.
He’s all class and clearly has the heart for the battle after last year’s showdown. I’d want him on my side going into a race like the Ascot Gold Cup and I’d say he’s as good as he’s ever been going into the big meeting.
Related Royal Ascot links
Next Off
Most Followed
MOST READ RACING
