Our pundit Mike Cattermole expects it to be a super Saturday for Godolphin and he has a tip for every race on the final day of Royal Ascot.
IT has been a quiet week for Godolphin since Blue Point won the King’s Stand on Tuesday but there is every chance that Charlie Appleby’s blue army can end the week with a flourish on Saturday with the returning Blue Point and Masar leading the charge in the Diamond Jubilee and Hardwicke Stakes respectively.
Not since St Paddy in 1960-61 has a Derby winner won the Hardwicke the following year (although few, if any, have tried) but even though Masar has been absent since his big day, he looks the one to be on against a field of high-class performers.
This race was chosen after considering the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and given that that race was run on rain-sodden ground, this option is being rewarded with a nice drying surface.
Masar was a very classy three-year-old, with a nine-length win in the Craven Stakes and third in the 2,000 Guineas before his big day at Epsom in which he reversed Newmarket form with Saxon Warrior and was chased home by Dee Ex Bee and multiple Group One winner Roaring Lion.
It has been a long road back since he was injured afterwards but a racecourse gallop at Newmarket should have helped to ready him and his turn of foot should be too much for the likes of Defoe, the Coronation Cup winner, and the smart Lah Ti Dar.
Masar is a generous 100-30 with SkyBet but I feel he should be more of a 2-1 chance.
What a sporting gesture to declare Blue Point for the Diamond Jubilee after his triumph in Tuesday’s King’s Stand and try and emulate Choisir in 2002 with the big sprint double!
Blue Point is now four from five on this course and it would take a brave man to say he can’t make it five out of six.
If he gets the breaks, unlike last year when fourth, The Tin Man, winner in 2017, may give him most to do while City Light and Bound For Nowhere, who were second and third in this 12 months ago, should be thereabouts again. Respect is also due for Invincible Army who needs to find some improvement, though.
The Appleby team could also strike with the fast improving Space Blues in the Jersey Stakes. Having extricated himself from a tough position to come round the field and land a competitive handicap at York, his acceleration was a bit too much for the smart Urban Icon at Epsom, although the runner-up did get a little unbalanced there.
Happy Power makes a quick reappearance after beating the older horses at York last week and is also progressing quickly.
The Appleby team has Epsom winner Pinatubo in the opening Chesham Stakes but the vibes are strong about the easy Curragh winner Lope Y Fernandez for Aidan O’Brien who has won this four times before and he is probably going to be hard to beat.
Mohican Heights beat Albany Stakes sixth Lil Grey on his debut at Leopardstown and changed hands for a whopping £520,000 at the Goffs London Sale on Monday.
The stiff six furlongs of the Wokingham Handicap shapes as though it should be ideal for Cape Byron who actually tackles the trip for the first time. He landed the Victoria Cup over a furlong further last month and the second and fourth, Kynren and Raising Sand, both ran big in the Royal Hunt Cup on Wednesday.
Up 4lb for that, he has to defy a career high mark but seems better than ever and has a very good course record. Cape Byron travels strongly and can quicken off what should be the usual strong pace - with last week’s good York winner Recon Mission helping to tow them along – and he can give Roger Varian his second winner of the week.
Good luck too here to Jeremy Noseda who saddles his last runner in Cenotaph. He won’t be disgraced.
Finally, King Power, who I have given a few hopeful mentions to this week (that went well – not!), can grab a winner at last in the lucky last as Cleonte has to go well in the Queen Alexandra Stakes for Andrew Balding.
He stays forever and ran an excellent race on this course in the Sagaro Stakes behind Dee Ex Bee. He can be forgiven a below par run in the Chester Cup on desperate ground.
Max Dynamite returns to defend his title and has to be a big danger but there are not many that can be given a chance in this.
SELECTIONS:
2.30 LOPE Y FERNADEZ
3.05 SPACE BLUES
3.40 MASAR
4.20 BLUE POINT
5.00 CAPE BYRON
5.35 CLEONTE
