Neil Morrice brings us all of his best bets and tips for day 2 of Royal Ascot including an in-depth preview of the Group 1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes.
Royal Ascot Day 2
The jewel of the second day and probably the race of the week is the Prince Of Wales's Stakes and get ready for a mouth-watering clash between super fillies
SEA OF CLASS and
MAGICAL.
Sea Of Class was beaten on her debut last year but made astonishing progress to stamp herself a proper Group 1 horse and ultimately fail by inches to catch Enable in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
William Haggas brings her back from a mile and a half to a mile and a quarter here and has every confidence she will prove just as effective. The Somerville Lodge trainer is further buoyed by the fact that James Doyle, who built up such a potent understanding with Sea Of Class, became available for the mount after Godolphin's Masar was switched to the Hardwicke Stakes.
MAGICAL gave Enable a similar fright in the Breeders' Cup Turf in Kentucky and has come back roaring this year to post three straight victories in Ireland. This captain of industry has her tail up and out to cement her place as the best older horse operating from Aidan O'Brien's Coolmore operation.
Making this a highly competitive renewal is
CRYSTAL OCEAN, winner of the Hardwicke Stakes last year and in winning form coming into this. Sir Michael Stoute's charge impressed at Newbury and should set a good gallop for the fillies to aim at.
Helping to make this a truly international renewal are the Andre Fabre-trained
WALDGEIST, a clear cut winner of the Prix Ganay, and the much-travelled Japanese raider
DEIRDRE.
The big betting extravaganza of the day is the Royal Hunt Cup in which the ante-post book has been all about
NEW GRADUATE. The form of his latest runaway Ripon win has worked out amazingly well, but a 15lb hike for that means James Tate's runner needs to prove that he's a budding Group horse in order to win.
The day kicks off with a field of electric juvenile fillies blazing up the five furlongs course in the Queen Mary Stakes. Godolphin's
FINAL SONG is a name to conjure with as she bids to repeat an impressive course and distance triumph while Oisin Murphy, leader of the jockey title race, sees the Archie Watson-trained
LAMBETH WALK as one of his best rides of the week.
Prince Of Wales's Stakes
Rightly heralded as the best race of the meeting, the result of this super-charged meeting between
SEA OF CLASS,
MAGICAL and
CRYSTAL OCEAN will open up avenues for all three in the main middle distance Group 1s for the remainder of the season.
William Haggas is confident Sea Of Class will prove just as effective dropping back in trip and James Doyle's mount will have to be if she's to make a winning return. Doyle is wonderfully adept at riding her cold, switching her off at the tail of the field before picking off her foes one by one. Watching the pair in action is a joy to behold, remembering that they needed just a couple more strides to have taken down Enable in the Arc.
While Sea Of Class hasn't run since early October,
MAGICAL is proving a new broom to Aidan O'Brien with three straight wins in Ireland this year. She has dispatched admittedly inferior rivals just as she liked, resulting in her gaining a giant ring of confidence that will carry itself down Ryan Moore's reins today. And like Sea Of Class at Paris-Longchamp, Magical made Enable pull out all the stops in the Breeders' Cup Turf in Kentucky.
It seems inevitable that
CRYSTAL OCEAN will race up with the pace and especially so granted this mile and a quarter is shorter than his optimum. Sir Michael Stoute juggled this race with the longer Hardwicke for his game front runner, who warmed up for it with a stylish conversion in Newbury's Aston Park Stakes. Should the horse acquit himself well he could be targeted at the big ten furlong races down the road this season.
Andre Fabre is not bringing
WALDGEIST over just for the goodness of his health and this impressive chestnut needs close consideration. He failed by a paper-thin margin not to land the French Derby last year and resumed with a telling triumph in the Prix Ganay.
DIERDRE is the big hope of Japan this week and has a considerable following in her country. However, having failed to cut the mustard in Hong Kong and Dubai she might struggle to bustle up the main protagonists in a race worth going a long way to see.
Neil Morrice's Predicted Finish
1st SEA OF CLASS (Nap)
2nd Magical
3rd Crystal Ocean
4th Waldgeist
Royal Ascot Best Bets
Race 1: LAMBETH WALK (14) (Each Way)
Trainer: Archie Watson
Jockey: Oisin Murphy
Murphy has given LAMBETH WALK a good billing for an opener that will take plenty of sorting out, but at odds around 14-1 the Archie Watson-trained runner is worth a second look. Having coasted home on her debut, she showed gritty determination to resist Praxeology at Chelmsford and that one scored impressively at Salisbury to give the form a timely boost.
Race 2: DASHING WILLOUGHBY (3)
Trainer: Andrew Balding
Jockey: Oisin Murphy
The Balding stable has been on fire this season and even though they don't have a standout runner DASHING WILLOUGHBY is quietly fancied to open his seasonal account in this Queens Vase. He looked for a few strides like getting Sir Dragonet off the bridle in the Chester Vase, and while ultimately beaten almost nine lengths he has shown in subsequent work that a step up the distance ladder is what he wants. Furthermore, this is a race his trainer likes to win.
Race 4: CIRCUS COUTURE (18) (Each Way)
Trainer: Jane Chapple-Hyam
Jockey: John Egan
The Chapple-Hyam horses are in good form which augers well for a big run from CIRCUS COUTURE. Notwithstanding the obvious claims of the favourite New Graduate, any 25-1 about Circus Couture should be snapped up. This has been his target right from the start of the season and his recent Nottingham win over Baltic Baron has worked out. And should the forecast thunderstorms hit the track it won't bother him as he's more than happy in the soft.
