Royal Ascot Race-By-Race Preview Day Three: Gold Cup has the makings of a classic

Royal Ascot / Andrew Hughes / 17 June 2009 / Leave a Comment

Yeats, Geordieland and Patkai line up for the most hotly-anticipated battle of the week at Ascot on Thursday. Andrew Hughes has info on that and all the other races here...

2:30 Norfolk Stakes
Today's opener is a Group Two race for precocious two-year-olds, very few of whom are likely to go on to make an impact as three-year-olds. This race began its existence as a four furlong event and though it is run over an extra furlong these days, it has retained some of its originally frenetic character. For this blistering speed test, you need to concentrate on those horses that have already demonstrated their speed or alternatively, unexposed types from sires who have proven to be a strong speed influence on their progeny. The market is in its early stages but it is already clear that Richard Hannon's Monsieur Chevalier is going to be a hot favourite for this one.

3:05 Ribblesdale Stakes
The Ribbesdale is undoubtedly one of the trickiest puzzles that punters will attempt to solve this week. The fillies' equivalent of the King Edward VII Stakes, it is a mile-and-a-half contest limited to three-year-old fillies in which those with unproven stamina can almost certainly be overlooked. Previous runnings of this race suggest that unexposed types that were lightly raced as two-year-olds are worth looking out for, though with some of these having been involved in some decent Group races this year, it still takes a classy sort to win it. Godolphin have a good record in this race and the Prix Cleopatre winner Flying Cloud is likely to be strong in the betting.

3:45 Gold Cup
This fantastic old race is arguably the most popular of the many Group Ones here this week. Run over a distance of two-and-a-half-miles, winners need to display a special blend of pace and endurance and if you are after clues from previous races, then you could do worse than study the Henry II Stakes at Sandown or the Yorkshire Cup from York. Last year, Yeats became only the second horse in history to win a hat trick of Gold Cups and Aidan O'Brien's admirable campaigner is currently [3.25] to become the first ever to make it four in a row. His main opposition comes from Patkai [4.3] the winner of the Sagaro Stakes here earlier in the year and last year's gallant runner up Geordieland at [4.0]

4:20 Britannia Stakes
This Heritage Handicap is a straight mile contest, confined to three-year-old colts and geldings and in many ways can be considered the younger brother of the Royal Hunt Cup. It is perennially popular with punters and is easily the most competitive age-restricted handicap of the season. As usual, you can expect a packed field of 30 runners, most of them lightly raced improvers and all of them trained and prepared with this particular prize in mind. It is a race for gambles and whispers and offers an intriguing test for punters.

4:55 Hampton Court Stakes
This is a 10 furlong Listed event that was added to the meeting in 2002. It is another race confined to three-year-olds and is usually targeted by some of the higher class stables with some of their more unexposed three-year-olds. As always in these kind of races, it can pay to know how the top stables work so that you are able to spot when they have a real contender. Another factor to bear in mind is that horses stepping down in class for this race, having previously been aimed at better contests have good record in this one. Probably the pick of the entries is Aidan O'Brien's Dante runner up, Freemantle.

5:30 King George V Stakes
A Heritage Handicap to finish and yet another race restricted to three-year-olds, this is a 12 furlong contest and another interesting challenge for punters to take on in which late developing horses do well. As ever in this kind of contest, we are looking for progressive and lightly raced types but it still takes a classy sort to win this and it invariably goes to a horse from one of the better stables. Mark Johnston has a good record here as with many of these Ascot handicaps and he has an impressive seven runners entered for this one.