ROYAL ASCOT DAY FIVE

The final day and some may say thank the Lord! Formbook has been turned upside down by the change in the ground and it was obvious today just by watching that many of the horses just couldnt handle it.Still produced some tremendous viewing and tomorrow looks like much of the same.I couldnt hit a cows a**e with a banjo but here goes.
2.30 Two year old race...you know the score by now!

3.05 Really think that Await the Dawn might be something special but hes a silly price,just on pure value then id back Campanologist ew as a saver.Group one form in the book and a pleasing effort behind So you Think last time out,doesnt mind cut in the ground but with the forecast they might be paddling up the straight!

3.45 Delegator would have been another wager had the ground remained half decent.He looks like he might be withdrawn so id switch to Bewitched,course and distance winner,ground will be okay and is in prime form.Sounds easy doesnt it!

4.20 Absolute nightmare of a handicap but Swilly Ferry has everything in his favour,stiff six on soft ground.His recent form is dreadful but when ground is like it is its more down to conditions than anything else and he revels in these.

5.00 Another impossible handicap but Coin of the Realm went into the notebook after a pleasing effort at Epsom last time up.At a real ew price he might be worth a few shekels.

5.35 Very competitive renewal with plenty having a shout but i like Trovare,shaped with promise behind the Ascot stakes winner(Veiled) last time out and if coping with the ground then he has as good a chance as any.

Not had a bet yet and probably wont but if you do play then all the best

racingnut wrote:3.45 Delegator would have been another wager had the ground remained half decent.He looks like he might be withdrawn so id switch to Bewitched,course and distance winner,ground will be okay and is in prime form.Sounds easy doesnt it!

Ooh....he's my nap in the Ascot comp......I'll keep an eye on him.....I might change him even if he isn't withdrawn.

Good right up as always, racing : )

Solerina

My heads in the shed Sol,all my notebook horses and all my pre meeting calcs were done with decent/quick ground in mind and the rain thats fallen and is going to fall just makes them more useless by the minute.I even bottled out of backing Brown Panther yesterday,must be getting jittery in my old age.

given the rain at the moment, I would be amazed if Delegator runs tomorrow.

its a shame as he would have been my nap too. Just looked at the card though and one horse leapt off the page at me for this - GENKI.

I remember him a couple of years ago coming through the mist on rain soaked ground to win a similarly big race at Glorious Goodwood

racingnut wrote:My heads in the shed Sol,all my notebook horses and all my pre meeting calcs were done with decent/quick ground in mind and the rain thats fallen and is going to fall just makes them more useless by the minute.I even bottled out of backing Brown Panther yesterday,must be getting jittery in my old age.

Yes....it's a shame about the rain : (

Solerina

I was there Steveo.you couldnt see 150yds,it was a nightmare.The only time ive been and i went on day like that! Only plus was backing Midday at 7/1 in the Nassau!!!!!

well I imagine last day of Goodwood is usually a great day to go. You were a bit unlucky with that one!

I have only been once myself on Goodwood Cup day, saw a Ryan Moore 3 timer and followed him ever since. He is having a nightmare this week though!

Aaaw....did someone mention the Goodwood Cup?

Double Trigger

Solerina

Great horse Solerina

as I thought though Delegator is OUT of the Golden Jubilee today.

couldnt believe the Morning Line today. They were actually tipping it to win still!

So you are person that still watches it! It was in the racing post that there was a mystery viewer somewhere in the country! Cant bring myself to watch clowns spouting off total rubbish and getting well paid for it.

steveo77 wrote:

as I thought though Delegator is OUT of the Golden Jubilee today.

Thanks steveo : )

Haven't watched the Morning Line for years.....not even the pre Cheltenham ones.......it's just pointless waffle most the time.

I'd much rather hear the opinions of you folks on here

Solerina

Overturn is also out.........

http://twitter.com/#!/donaldmccain

He seemed pretty confident too.

Captain Charisma wrote:Overturn is also out.........

http://twitter.com/#!/donaldmccain

He seemed pretty confident too.

Thanks Captain....I'll go and find a sub for the comp....I'd mad him my nap, too, after Delegator was withdrawn,

Solerina

I reckon if it hadnt have been the flagship meeting of the middle season then plenty more would have been taken out over the past two days.Some of the form we are seing just wont stack up at places like Newmarket(July Meeting),Glorious Goodwood and the Ebor Festival.Its a shame for the purists but still great viewing.

Ive just sat and trawled through the Wokingham and Duke of Edinburgh cards.I wouldnt normally look at the Wokingham but having sifted through his form and watched all the replays that are available i just cant get away from the thought that SWILLY FERRY is a real vfm ew bet.I might be miles away,maybe im reading and seeing things that arent there but at 50s hes overpriced in my book.
In the Duke Of Edinburgh i think COIN OF THE REALM is similarly overpriced,he ran a nice race at Epsom last time and wasnt given anything like a hard race when it was obvious that he wasnt going to get to the leaders.Ryan Moore is claimed by his stable so Tom Queally takes over,thats no negative and although his real best form is on a decent surface he does have fair efforts on softer.Softer ground might actually help in that it will slow the others down a tad and hopefully allow him to get competitive come the finish.25s is another vfm ew bet in my eyes.

that is so annoying about Overturn, was just going to make him my nap too!

How come Society Rock was 25/1?!

Await the Dawn was very impressive : )

Can't stand all the fashion nonsense......I love nice clothes but not when there are horses we could be looking at.

I didn't know Martin Clunes was president of the British Horse Society ..........he's a top bloke!

I'm having a lovely afternoon.....it's the only day of Royal Ascot I've been able to watch.

Hope you folks are having a profitable afternoon if your betting : )

I'm having a rubbish time in the Ascot Comp lol,

Solerina

Solerina wrote:How come Society Rock was 25/1?!

Await the Dawn was very impressive : )

Couldn't believe the price of Society Rock, if it was 16/1 or shorter would have had a small bet. Await the Dawn was excellent, glad my tip managed to hold on to 2nd for a 10/1 forecast.
My main bet today was Kirthill, Klynch and Bowdlers Magic in a patent, 2 down 1 to go for some beer money.

solerina

yes im having a bad day too in the tipping contest
picked the wrong Johnny Murtagh horse!
couldnt believe he was nearly last in the Golden jubilee then won the wokingham

had a nice little win in the last though on Fox Hunt so im still in profit for the week. i agree though its been a great afternoons racing

steveo77 wrote:solerina

yes im having a bad day too in the tipping contest
picked the wrong Johnny Murtagh horse!
couldnt believe he was nearly last in the Golden jubilee then won the wokingham

had a nice little win in the last though on Fox Hunt so im still in profit for the week. i agree though its been a great afternoons racing

Well done Steve. I'm gutted, backed Fox Hunt a couple weeks ago but never noticed it was running today.

braveheart,

i was at Epsom a couple of weeks back and it won really impresively then so had to have a little bet today. didnt put it up in the tipping contest though or have a big bet because i wasnt convinced it would be able to win so soon on totally different ground. now that it has i am seriously impressed with the horse.

Great five days but from a form students perspective im glad its over.All my homework and study ended up good for nothing but eating chips out of! I dont think Royal Ascot is a meeting where you can just pick up the morning paper and rattle off four or five selections,its a meeting where in my opinion you have to be working out all the different angles from weeks beforehand.I paid more attention to this meeting than any for the past five or six seasons but once the rains had fallen i basically shut up shop and didnt even consider a bet.Anyone who made profit then i tip my hat to you but please dont expect the majority of this form to stack up at the other showcase meetings unless they, like Ascot,get a shed load of rain.Having watched the Golden Jubillee and Wokingham today ive just convinced myself that the straight course at Ascot should carry a health/wealth warning as the effect of the draw is almost comical,middle one day,high the next,low the one after,you really have got no chance.Even on the round course they chose to race down the middle!
From a form point of view i reckon the Queen Anne and St James Palace are rock solid and that form will stand up anywhere,the Prince of Wales form will,in my opinion, be turned around the next time the front two meet,So you Think blew up and was not particularly well ridden,he will make Workforce go in the Eclipse.The Gold Cup couldnt have fallen any better for Fame and Glory,all the rain and no pace,he had top form over shorter and his change of pace was the deciding factor.He will have to carry penalties in the rest of the Cup races over here,we wont see him again on these shores this season.The Coronation form maybe flawed as they certainly went "overquick" on the ground and turned it into a very French type of race which suited the Gallic visitors down to the ground,the winner showed a nice turn of foot but she needs these conditions to shine and on better ground she would be readily passed over.Fiorente will surely emerge as the best of the 3yo colts to run in the King Edward ,still a big baby but loads of promise,surefire group winner in the making.Of the races today then obviously Await The Dawn looks group one class waiting to happen but where he goes from here is open for debate as the stable has a veritable wealth of top flight older horses.
Ascot provides great visual and sporting images year on year and long may it continue but for me this years renewal was tainted by horses racing on unseasonable bad ground,top class flat racing on poor ground is like top class national hunt racing on quick ground,it just doesnt stack up.Still,i wouldnt have missed it for the world,i thoroughly enjoyed it as a tremendous spectacle of class action on the course and the very essence of Britishness off of it.

2nd best week of the racing year in my opinion.
(nothing can still beat Cheltenham)

I do wonder about having those 3 group 1s at the start of the meeting though. At Cheltenham although Tuesday also has arguably the best racing there is still a build up to the Gold Cup on the Friday.

This is what I think should have happenned this year to maximise exposure of racing to the public and TV audiences.

Restore the Coventry Stakes to the opening race on the Tuesday
Make the Queen Anne the main feature race (3.45) on Tuesday
Move the St James Palace to Saturday and then run it last at 5.35pm and have live coverage of that race on BBC1.

That way you would have the best horse (Frankel) given a primetime slot on TV in front of the biggest crowds (80,000) of the week. Instead the best races of the week were watched by probably the smallest TV audience and smallest crowds of the week.

I appreciate the traditionalists will go mad but sometimes racing needs to be a bit bolder in its scheduling. What does everyone think?

I think the format for Ascot is basically sound but have to agree that certain events would be better if allotted different positions within the schedule.The three Group 1s on the first day is wrong but as to whether the St James should be the last race on Saturday...well im not sure on that one.I do think the Saturday is a bit of a letdown compared to the rest.The Chesham holds no interest for me as its for 2yos,the Golden Jubilee and Wokingham are a lottery because of draw and racing pace issues and the Queen Alexandra is a glorified bumper.Whilst a five day meeting does work in principal i always get the feeling that you could certainly go back to a four day fest,drop two of the lesser events and still have a fantastic festival.Being totally selfish id ditch two of the 2yo events,maybe the Chesham and the Albany and instead of starting Tuesday id start Wednesday through to Saturday.

you are certainly right about the 2 year old races
Royal Ascot seems to be full of them!

the trend does seem to be moving away from a Tuesday start to midweek summer meetings these days. I think the July meeting has gone too far though, it starts on a Thursday this year!

Royal Ascot will always have 5 days and start on a Tuesday though because the commercial side of it is too big to do otherwise