Royal Ascot Day 3 Lay Tips: Don't be afraid to take on Haggas favourites

Patrick Weaver
15 June 2022

William Haggas has the favourites for the Ribblesdale and Buckingham Palace Stakes.

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Patrick Weaver has four more lay bets for the third day of Royal Ascot...

"Maksud won at Windsor ... then wasn't beaten far in an alleged Derby trial that was anything but. With the form of the Windsor race not working out, and the Goodwood Listed contest being substandard, I can't see him being placed."

Having said earlier in the week that you have to be careful laying William Haggas three-year-olds at Royal Ascot, I find myself headling one as a lay.

His Sea Silk Road is 3.259/4 favourite for the Ribblesdale at 15:40 and there are a number of reasons to think she should not head the betting.

The international handicap ratings currently have her behind Magic Lagoon and History, but 4lb ahead of Life Of Dreams and Mukaddamah and 10lb ahead of Mystic Wells.

Sea Silk Road has also yet to race over the trip, or on ground this fast. Nor has she run in this grade, and as a result has not run in a fast-run race.

That is not to say she can't win but she needs to improve to do so.

We have to be cautious, though, as the Haggas way of training means that his three-year-olds come to Royal Ascot off a high and are still improving. Some Guineas winners peak at Newmarket in May and don't go on - not the case with this Newmarket trainer who doesn't ask too much of his second-season horses in the spring. They walk the walk in June.

We will know by 16:00 whether Sea Silk Road has won Haggas a second winner of the Ribblesdale - the first was Mon Etoile in 2006. At [x] she is certainly worth taking on.

Montassib faces stiff task from his low draw

Sticking with Haggas, his other favourite on the card is Montassib in the Buckingham Palace Stakes at 18:10.

A winner as a two-year-old but unraced at three, the Somerville Lodge trainer took him over on the death of Sheikh Hamdan and he has won both starts in Haggas' ownership.

First up was a weak four-runner race at Wetherby. He then won tidily at Goodwood causing his mark to go up 10lb from 87 to 97.

There are 29 runners and Montassib is drawn in stall one. Last year's first four home were drawn, 31, 18, 24 and 29. The first home on the far side was only sixth.

This may prove to be within his compass, but given his draw and inexperience of large fields he has to be a place lay at 2.77/4.

Thunder Moor looks out of his depth in the Norfolk

When I first looked at the Norfolk Stakes (off at 14:30), I thought Thunder Moor was far too short at 12.011/1. He has finished last of six at Musselburgh, then won a weak York race from an Adrian Nicholls colt that was 12th of 17 in the Coventry Starkes on Tuesday at 200/1.

Unfortunately, he is out to 21.020/1 on the Exchange but should be around 3.02/1 to finish in the first four and looks a tasty lay.

The Racing Post ratings rank Thunder Moor eighth of the 10 that have raced - Redemption Time and Jungle Fever being the two below him.

With seven running for us, Thunder Moor is going to have to improve significantly and find a turn of foot that has not been evident in his first two races.

Maksud's Hampton Court entry looks ambitious

Maksud, the third favourite for the Hampton Court Stakes at 17:35, is another bred by Sheikh Hamdan and sold after his death.

Unraced when with John Gosden, he had shown sufficient promise on the gallops for Thurloe Thoroughbreds to buy him for 65,000gns and send him to Hughie Morrison.

Maksud won at Windsor at the first time of asking, then wasn't beaten far in an alleged Derby trial that was anything but.

With the form of the Windsor race not working out, and the Goodwood Listed contest being substandard, I can't see him being placed.

Cresta was runner-up in the Dee Stakes at Chester. Claymore was second to Native Trail in the Craven. Reach For The Moon's second to My Prospero at Sandown looks rock solid after the winner was placed in a Group 1 on Tuesday. Kingmax was fifth to the Derby winner in the Dante.

The more you look at the form of his rivals, the more you would conclude that Maksud is likely to finish nearer last than first in the Hampton Court.