Day two was a successful and profitable one for the blog with our Next best, Al Kazeem and also Duntle winning their respective races. The real talking point was the supreme form of James Doyle who rode a 891.5/1 treble from his four rides on the day. We will see all three of them as we go through our review of the action from Day Two of Royal Ascot.
Aidan O'Brien trained the winner of the Jersey with Gale Force Ten ridden by his son Joseph gamely beating Montiridge. Richard Hannon's colt looked to have the beating of Gale Force Ten, but the Irish raider knuckled down, and after being passed came back to land the spoils by a head. Tawhid stayed on well to grab third under Silvestre De Sousa, from our selection Garswood and will benefit from the step up to a mile. A brave Gale Force Ten landed the Jersey and was a very worthy winner.
Duntle was fairly week in the betting on course, unfortunately for people opposing her, someone forgot to tell her that as she duly obliged for the blog. She took over from the furlong pole and despite Lady's First battling on after making all went on to win the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes. Lady's First ended up going down by half a length but lost absolutely nothing in defeat, again running a good race. Dank had every chance at the furlong pole, but couldn't quite quicken enough to reach the leader going down in third by a head, with Beatrice Aurore a further head back in fourth. The well backed favourite for the race was Chigun but she could do no better than 6th under Tom Queally. The day was won by Duntle who made it back to back Royal Ascot wins.
The Prince Of Wales' Stakes was built up to be the big rematch between Al Kazeem and Camelot, but it was not to be. However we did get a fantastic finish between Al Kazeem and the long time leader Mukhadram under Paul Hanagan. It looked for a moment turning for home hat Hanagan had timed it perfectly aboard his mount when kicking 3 lengths clear. James Doyle got to work on his pride and joy Al Kazeem and immediately started to pick up, still a furlong out it was in the balance. Closer to home was when Al Kazeem finally managed to wear down Mukhadram and win by a neck and the first of three for James Doyle. The Fugue ran a great race on reappearance to get third staying on well, but couldn't reach the leading pair and was three and a quarter lengths back. Camelot turned for home with every chance but couldn't pick up late on and the well back favourite had to settle for fourth. The pacemaker for Camelot was stablemate Windsor Palace but he could never reach the front after missing the break.
The Royal Hunt Cup favoured the far side, something which Richard Hughes didn't anticipate as Stirring Ballad started far side, but was switched over early on. James Doyle made it a quick fire double with Belgian Bill who raced prominently on the far side with runner up Premio Loco. Of the near side group, David Livingston fared best with our selection Burke's Rock just behind in eighth place. Only 7 horses in total raced far side with the first four coming from that small group including Belgian Bill who was produced late. The veteran Premio Loco ran a good race as always and just couldn't get past Belgian Bill with Arsaadi back in third.
The last leg of James Doyle's big treble and his third lifetime winner at Royal Ascot came in the impressive shape of Rizeena who won the Queen Mary very well. American raider, Sweet Emma Rose also ran with great credit for Wesley Ward and Joel Rosario after being prominent all the way. The yard of Tim Pitt saddled the third placed One Chance under Andrea Atzeni who was a length behind the runner up. Hopefully you backed our each way selection with a bookmaker offering first four as Fig Roll ran her guts out to hold on for fourth at 33/1. Favourite Beldale Memory could manage no better than 14th in the hands of Jamie Spencer for Clive Cox.
The far side once again dominated the finale in the Sandringham with Annecdote winning for Jonathan Portman and Richard Kingscote. She was never too far away before being produced just over a furlong out and eventually lead inside the final furlong. Auction was the closest threat but went down by a neck and it was the same distance back to Woodland Aria in third. Nargys put up a much improved effort to finish fourth under Jamie Spencer reinstalling the faith connections once had in her. Mango Diva went off the 6/1 favourite but was never looking a likely winner and finished back in ninth. Our selection Annie's Fortune lost it at the start when coming out the stalls slowly and finishing second last.
Today Martin is running an invite only Pigeon Swoop for twitter users for four Ascot races, you can track my progress on his site through my twitter tag, @lukeyboy1325. You can find the four Ascot races included on his twitter page @Pigeon_Island or on his website where you will also find my selections as well. The site is www.pigeonswoop4.wordpress.com Enjoy!
Luke -3.92 George -2
2:30 - No Nay Never No Nay Never
3:05 - Alive Alive Oh Just Pretending
3:45 - Model Pupil Repeater
4:25 - Wentworth Homage
5:00 - Remote Chopin
5:35 - Number One London Bold Sniper
Good luck once again! Now on with the racing!
Royal Ascot - Norfolk Stakes - No Nay Never
Wesley Ward outlined No Nay Never as his best 'gun' for the week and gets the selection with stablemate Sweet Emma Rose running a good second yesterday. He has only seen the racecourse once in his lifetime but was very impressive on that visit, winning eased down in the end. No Nay Never didn't jump out of the stalls the best but showed fantastic early speed to get up the rail to lead. Once in the lead he didn't look back and with an experienced rival attacking him up the straight, knuckled down when asked to extend again. The one worry comes in the form of the race being on dirt and obviously today is turf, but Wesley Ward assures punters that he is bred for turf and it will be fine. As with all of Ward's Ascot horses this year Joel Rosario rides and he should know the horse very well after riding him at Keeneland. One last note is that the debut was over 4 and a half furlongs, just half a furlong shorter than today but it should pose no problems for him. No Nay Never to be our first Royal Ascot 2013 winner from across the pond. (11/2)
1st - No Nay Never
2nd - Saayerr
3rd - Emirates Flyer
Royal Ascot - Ribblesdale Stakes - Alive Alive Oh
The Ribblesdale has gone the way of the Irish for the last two years and they can complete the hat-trick here with Tommy Stack's, Alive Alive Oh. Her only loss came in a maiden at The Curragh when behind subsequent Irish 2000 Guineas winner Magician and Bunairgead of Jim Bolger's. She then won at Cork before being stepped up in trip at Navan when winning a listed race with ease over a mile and 2 furlongs. Today she is stepped up in trip once more to a mile and a half which should pose no problems to her whatsoever. Top Irish jockey Fran Berry is booked to ride today after his day one win aboard Well Sharp in the Ascot Stakes and is 100% on this horse. The only slight worry is that she hasn't run on ground this fast but she should cope with it and didn't seem totally in love with really testing ground. Alive Alive Oh to make it a hat-trick of Ribblesdale's for Ireland. (5/2)
1st - Alive Alive Oh
2nd - The Lark
3rd - Elik
Royal Ascot - Gold Cup - Model Pupil
Charlie Hills' representative may not be the most tipped up horse in the race, but is one that I have followed for a while and has been laid out for this race. He started this year with a leisurely win at Doncaster in a group three over a mile and a half under Ryan Moore, winning by 8 lengths on not ideal ground. He was then kept at the same distance but upped in class when taking on Noble Mission and Universal at Newbury in a Group 3. It was obvious that he was never comfortable and was outpaced up the straight, yet staying on in fourth behind good horses that have won since. His most eye catching run was his most recent outing at Sandown when stepped up to 2 miles in the Henry II Stakes, a Group 3 race. He was slightly keen early on but will have learnt a lot from the run against more experienced stayers and despite that managed a good third. He came into it strongly, again on ground not really favoured by him after a downpour on the night and looked beat a furlong and a half out. If you were holding an each way ticket on him you'd have given up as he looked to fade backwards but once on the rail he ran on again. From a furlong out Richard Hughes looked after him and nursed him home but he was still running on, giving the impression that today's marathon trip will suit him well. Model Pupil is grossly over priced and can make the most of his 4 year old allowance here for James McDonald. (50/1)
1st - Model Pupil
2nd - Simenon
3rd - High Jinx
Royal Ascot - Brittania Stakes - Wentworth
Wentworth comes here on the back of a very encouraging run at Goodwood when dropped down to six furlongs. The logic behind that was because of connections feeling he didn't travel well enough and to of course get him fit. He travelled pretty well that day and would have won if he had managed to get a gap, alas that was not the case and he had to settle for third. This race has been in the mind of Richard Hannon for some time now and Wentworth has been laid out perfectly for it. Despite running over 6 furlongs last time there are no stamina worries, courtesy of his win over a mile at Newbury as a two year old. Of course this is a very tough race and it will take some winning as always, but with some more exposed types in the field it hands Wentworth a big chance. Unfortunately his price reflects that a little but is still the selection and very much the one to beat. (9/2)
1st - Wentworth
2nd - Maputo
3rd - Haafaguinea
Royal Ascot - Tercentenary Stakes - Remote
John Gosden and William Buick can saddle their first winner this week here with the rapidly improving and unexposed Remote. The form of his latest handicap win was given a tremendous boost, when runner up Baltic Knight won a listed race next time out at York. He was 6 lengths behind the selection at Doncaster and Remote could hardly have been more impressive in doing so. There are no stamina worries back up in trip to a mile and two furlongs, as he is already a winner over the distance at Newbury. William Buick is riding him for the first time today but that isn't a real worry as he looks a very progressive type and potentially a class above these. Despite the better race and longer trip Remote is still a confident selection and can show his rivals the way. (3/1)
1st - Remote
2nd - Windhoek
3rd - Chopin
Royal Ascot - King George V Stakes - Number One London
It is quite hard to believe that Number One London is still a maiden after all these attempts and running so well. Today could well be the day he loses that maiden tag and his consistency rewarded for Kieren Fallon and Brian Meehan. He has run against a few of these either in a stakes race or a maiden off level weights, today he benefits from a turnaround in the weights. Space Ship beat him by 5 and three quarter lengths, that form can be reversed with a 9 pounds difference between them. Excellent Result is another that may struggle to confirm the form with Number One London also worse off at the weights. The one race I am interested in is his last outing at Newmarket in which he was behind a smart horse called Maputo who runs earlier on. Although it was a handicap, it looked a very strong one with a smart horse called Chesterfield of Godolphin's in behind in third. He stayed on nicely that day to grab second late on and it looked at if a step up to a mile and a half will be right up his street. If he is unplaced today I would be very surprised and we have to wait till the last race of the day for our NAP. (12/1)
1st - Number One London
2nd - Excellent Result
3rd - Eshtiaal
NAP - Number One London
Nb - Remote
Happy Punting today guys!
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