Mike Cattermole preview of Friday at Royal Ascot
Billesdon Brook was a surprise winner of the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Mike Cattermole expects her to prove it wasn't a fluke in the Coronation Stakes.
The clash of the three 1,000 Guineas winners across Britain (Billesdon Brook), Ireland (Alpha Centauri) and France (Teppal) takes centre stage in the aptly-named Coronation Stakes on day four of Royal Ascot.
Throw in Clemmie, the best two-year-old among them, and another very smart filly in Threading and you have a proper renewal!
Clemmie, only seventh to Alpha Centauri in the Irish Guineas, was expected to need that after a setback in March had ruled her out of the Newmarket Guineas.
She had looked brilliant when winning the Cheveley Park Stakes at two but the form of that race has a few holes in it now.
Not so the Guineas at Newmarket, won in great style by Billesdon Brook from Laurens, who took the French Oaks last weekend. Happily was third and went on to finish in the same place when given a similar beating by Alpha Centauri at the Curragh. Fourth Wild Illusion has been second in the Oaks and the Ribblesdale.
Teppal is still unbeaten after landing the French Guineas at Chantilly and that form got a boost from the sixth Musis Amica who was runner-up in the French Oaks.
Then there’s Threading whose only defeats have been at undulating Newmarket. Away from there, she has looked very good indeed and she cruised home at York last time. She is respected, too.
This isn’t at all easy but Billesdon Brook is the tentative selection in a very tight race.
Whether Clemmie wins or loses, Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien are set to enjoy a big day.
The O’Brien two-year-olds have been acquitting themselves well all week and Gossamer Wings, beaten a short head in the Queen Mary on Wednesday, is the closest they have come.
That filly had finished third behind her stable companion Just Wonderful at the Curragh (good to firm) last month which is a real boost to the winner’s chances of following up in the Albany Stakes, which opens the card.
Moore has turned down the chance to ride the unbeaten Fairyland to maintain his partnership with Just Wonderful who came home alone on the far side in that Curragh maiden, as the second and third both came home in the stands’ side group.
Just Wonderful can be expected to improve significantly for that and looks potentially high class.
Fairyland has won both her starts, including the Listed Marble Hill Stakes against the colts on the same card that Just Wonderful was introduced. Fairyland’s time was in fact over a second quicker as she accounted for the Moore-ridden Van Beethoven. And yet Moore still prefers Just Wonderful.
Although only sixth in the Derby, Delano Roosevelt has some smart form in his locker and he should be hard to beat in the King Edward VII Stakes.
Neither he nor his stablemate Rostropovich (well held in the French Derby) have encountered fast ground before, however. Giuseppe Garibaldi who has won his last two on quick going, needs to find more to figure.
Wells Farhh Go won both of his starts at two but his reappearance sixth in the Dante was a shade disappointing. That said, it would be a surprise if he didn’t leave that form behind here.
The Ballydoyle team have a very strong candidate, literally, in the muscle bound Sioux Nation for the Commonwealth Cup, especially as he enjoys fast ground. Winner here of the Norfolk Stakes last year, he won the Lacken Stakes at Naas last time in good style and that was the stepping stone used successfully by Caravaggio last year.
He must go well but the one that could be a cut above is Equilateral. If the form of his thrashing of Foxtrot Lady at Doncaster is taken seriously – he gave 12lb and won by eight lengths – he has one heck of an engine and entitles him to a rating in excess of the mid 130s, depending on which way you analyse it.
Foxtrot Lady who has won twice since and was fifth in a top handicap at York last Saturday hasn’t exactly let the form down and I am prepared to give Charlie Hills’s colt the full benefit. He really could be very good indeed.
I fancy Ballydoyle to grab another in the Sandringham Handicap but this time with Donnacha O’Brien’s mount Broadway who hacked up at Naas on quick ground last time and the form has been boosted by wins from the second and third since.
Simon Crisford, who won the Britannia, puts blinkers on Dark Rose Angel who, on the form of her second to Laurens in the May Hill Stakes, has been given a proper chance by the handicapper. That’s because she has been disappointing but she is 25-1 with SkyBet.
Count Calabash is my offering for the Duke Of Edinburgh Handicap to double the Royal tally of both Eve Johnson Houghton and Charles Bishop. He won well over the course and distance last time from the widest draw and is improving.
SELECTIONS: 2.30 JUST WONDERFUL, 3.05 DELANO ROOSEVELT, 3.40 EQUILATERAL, 4.20 BILLESDON BROOK, 5.00 BROADWAY, 5.35 COUNT CALABASH
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