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Key events
King George V Handicap (3.05pm) market movers
Autumn Winter 9/1 (was 11/1)
Going The Distance 12/1 (was 10/1)
King George V Handicap (3.05pm) betting
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Gilded Water 11/2
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Chantilly 13/2
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French Duke 17/2
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Poniros 17/2
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Autumn Winter 11/1
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Gallantly 11/1
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Going The Distance 12/1
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Fouroneohfever 14/1
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Gasper De Lemos 14/1
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Persica 18/1
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BAR 25/1 – (19 Starters)
Greg Wood
King George V Handicap (3.05pm) preview
The first royal runner of the meeting, in the race that was memorably won by Desert Hero in the famous scarlet and purple colours 12 months ago – hats off, gawd bless ‘em, three hearty cheers, etc. etc – and Gilded Water deserves to set off as one of the favourites after a seven-and-a-half length success in a maiden event at Chester last month. That was over 10 furlongs, and as his dam was by the great Galileo, he seems sure to appreciate this step up to 12. Gilded Water was second-favourite overnight but has taken over as favourite with most bookies this morning, but plenty of his backers are unlikely to be too price-sensitive and the good news for the bookies is that there are plenty of opponents with the potential to puncture the patriotic fervour. Aidan O’Brien’s Chantilly, who finished third in the ultra-competitive London Gold Cup at Newbury, is sure to appreciate this step up to 12 furlongs, a comment that also applies to Poniros, who was in front of Chantillly at Newbury but is 1lb worse off here. French Duke, a maiden after three starts, another one to for money this morning, and while he has yet to register a win, he was mighty close to doing so when showing improved form in a warm maiden at Newbury.
SELECTION: CHANTILLY
Wathnan Racing’s retained rider James Doyle welcome the Emir of Qatar’s racing operation’s arrival on the racing scene.
Shareholder collects the cash in Norfolk Stakes (2.30pm)
Result:
1 Shareholder (James Doyle) 12-1
2 Tropical Storm (Oisin Murphy) 11-1
3 Arizona Blaze (David Egan) 14-1
13 ran
Non Runner: 5
Norfolk Stakes (2.30pm)
And they’re off … Whistlejacket is prominent in the early stages … Shareholder took up the lead on the far side and those in that contingent appeared to have the advantage and the Karl Burke-trained runner was never headed. Another success for the coming racing superpower, Wathnan Racing.
Non-runner alert
Grey Cuban will not run in the Britannia Stakes (5.05pm).
Norfolk Stakes (2.30pm) market movers
Whistlejacket 5/6 (was 11/8)
Tropical Storm 12/1 (was 14/1)
Arizona Blaze 14/1 (was 16/1)
Moving Force 16/1 (was 18/1)
ITV Racing host Ed Chamberlin is thinking along the same lines (see the earlier post on this subject). “Does it need a Taylor Swift or the Obamas?” he mentions to Charlotte Hawkins and Brough Scott on the channel as the royal procession makes it way down the track.
Queen’s Hat Stakes (2pm)
1 White 100-30 fav
Norfolk Stakes (2.30pm) betting
Market movers update
2.30 – Tropical Storm 25/1 -> 9/1
3.45 – You Got To Me 9/1 -> 7/2
5.05 – Qirat 8/1 -> 5/1
Full betting details at Oddschecker
Greg Wood
Norfolk Stakes (2.30pm) preview
Aidan O’Brien is likely to saddle the favourite in three of the first four races on today’s card, and Whistlejacket, his runner in this juvenile sprint, is likely to set off at the shortest price of the trio, Whistlejacket, named after George Stubbs’s magnificent painting which can be viewed in the National Gallery, is a full brother to Little Big Bear, the winner of the Windsor Castle Stakes here two years ago, and arrives with a very similar profile, having been beaten by inexperience on his first trip to a track before the penny dropped second time up. It dropped in no uncertain fashion where Whistlejacket is concerned, as he powered nearly four lengths clear of the runner-up in a Listed race at the Curragh, and did so in a very quick time to boot. Today’s good-to-firm ground will be an unknown and there are plenty of lightly-raced types in opposition, but they all have plenty to find with the favourite on his latest form and Whistlejacket could well take another step forward, too.
SELECTION: WHISTLEJACKET
Market movers
We have the third of our regular daily market movers bulletin in courtesy of the folks at Oddschecker. These are the horses supported overnight:
3.05 – Chantilly 13/2 -> 5/1
3.05 – French Duke 9/1 -> 7/1
3.45 – Kalpana 9/2 -> 3/1
Royal Procession (2pm)
The runners are in for the first event, the one that the bulk of the crowd are perhaps more captivated by than the actual races. And Thursday’s list is hardly getting me excited. It’s mostly a Windsor family outing and overall pretty boring and predictable, apart from perhaps the Princess Zahra Aga Khan. I suspect when the Prince of Wales is king we might see more commoners in those carriages (nap) and might he do away with the ‘Mrs Mike Tindall’ styling for females in the carriages? That’s Zara to you and me.
1st Carriage
The King
The Queen
The Duke of Devonshire
The Duchess of Devonshire
2nd Carriage
The Duke of Edinburgh
The Duchess of Edinburgh
The Earl of Snowdon
Princess Zahra Aga Khan
3rd Carriage
The Princess Royal
Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence
The Lady Sarah Chatto
Mr. Daniel Chatto
4th Carriage
The Duke of Richmond and Gordon
The Duchess of Richmond and Gordon
Mr. Mike Tindall
Mrs. Mike Tindall
It’s almost that time again … the royal procession will make its way down the track is back, as ever, at about 2pm and we can expect the details of who will be in the carriages at 12 noon. The King is expected to return after missing the racing yesterday but those in the carriages who are entertained at lunch in advance by the monarch at Windsor Castle are never revealed each day at Royal Ascot until 12 noon.
There’s apparently a surprise for those guests this week for, as revealed in the Mail this morning, a disgraced royal has been on hand at Windsor. The Ephraim Hardcastle column states: “Prince Andrew, banned from being seen in public but still royally indulged … is currently on hand at Windsor Castle to entertain the King’s house guests. It apparently comes as quite a shock to some, assuming he’d been banished, to find Andrew gurning at them across the drinks table when they arrive.”
This is also the time when I mention the Serpentine gallery exhibition by artist Mark Wallinger I saw back in 1994 when one of his installations, called ‘Royal Ascot’, consisted of a series of video monitors on top of wheeled flight cases, each isolating the royal carriage’s leisurely progress down the track on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (respectively, as it was then) of the meeting with, as the British Council points out in their description of the artwork, “the difference from day to day is barely discernible, just as the four commentaries merge in a confused blather.”
Queen’s Hat Stakes (2pm) preview
There was always a lively betting market on the colour of the Queen’s hat when Queen Elizabeth II was attending the meeting and Ladbrokes are betting on what colour tifter Queen Camilla will be sporting. Our form guides are the team at BestofBets.com who always keep a close eye on this novelty market and they state: “Following two days of blue, and with a hat-trick of blue being unlikely, bookies are in disagreement about which colour hat the Queen will wear on Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot with cream/white and pink competing over the top spot. It’s well known that Queen Camilla tends to opt for a neutral colour palette with pale pink being part of her repertoire; and with Ladies Day today, many believe she’ll pick a pink number, another firm favourite of her late mother-in-law. The other two colours we are likely to see this week are green and purple.”
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Ladbrokes bet:
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White/cream 10/3
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Pink 9/2
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Yellow 5/1
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Green 11/2
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Blue 6/1
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Orange 8/1
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Purple 9/1
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Red 14/1
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Grey/silver 14/1
Here’s your line-up for today’s sport, courtesy of a classy Ascot tweet, er X, oh you know what I mean:
Day 3 of #RoyalAscot 2024 has dawned, and it’s none other than Gold Cup Day. The excitement is electric as we gear up for one of the most prestigious days in the racing calendar. pic.twitter.com/uFh2USvNzR
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 20, 2024
Here are the horses you can cross off today as they aren’t turning up
Royal Ascot non-runners
2.30pm Norfolk Stakes (Group 2)
5 Evening Saigon (declared in error)
3.45pm Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2)
3 Forest Fairy (self cert – going)
4.25pm Gold Cup (Group 1)
7 Trueshan (going)
5.05pm Britannia Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
4 Bergamasco (other – sold privately and cannot take up engagement)
27 Miletus (will run on Saturday in the Golden Gates Handicap)
6.15pm Buckingham Palace Handicap
3 Awaal (vet’s cert – skin disease)
8 Ropey Guest (self cert – not eaten up)
The going for day three, as outlined in Greg’s preamble, is, wait for it, … still Good to Firm. We’ll be posting the going stick readings every day here at this time but it’s likely to stay the same given the weather forecast seems to be set fair. At present there still doesn’t seem to be any great advantage on either side of the straight track.
GoingStick readings at 8am:
Stands’ side: 8.3
Centre: 8.1
Far side: 8.2
Preamble
Greg Wood
Good morning from Royal Ascot on Ladies’ Day, the traditional highlight of the royal meeting with the Gold Cup – officially not the Ascot Gold Cup – as the feature race on the card.
The UK’s only two-and-a-half mile Group One is not quite the jewel in the crown that it was a century-and-a-half ago, when the Gold Cup was often seen as the automatic long-term target for a Derby winner in his four-year-old season.
But it has weathered a spell around the turn of the century when staying events in general seemed to be falling out of favour, and is once again a prize that every owner wants to win, not least because the reigning monarch will be handing over the trophy.
The late Queen Elizabeth II won every British Classic bar the Derby, but was still reckoned to feel that presenting the prize to herself after Estimate’s win in 2013 was the highlight of her many decades as an owner. And it is a race that remains very popular with the commoners too, as the winners often return year after year to defend their crown.
That is exactly what Kyprios seemed likely to do when he won the race as a four-year-old in 2022, and though he was denied the chance of a second success by injury last year, he will set off as a warm favourite to make up for lost time at 4.25 this afternoon. The King and Queen, meanwhile, do not have a runner in this year’s race, but they do have a live contender for the King George V Stakes in Gilded Water at 3.05, a race they memorably won last year with Desert Hero.
The weather forecast here remains fine and dry, and the good-to-firm going is perfect summer ground. Some picks for the afternoon’s seven races are here – showing a teeny-tiny profit for the meeting after two days, so no doubt downhill from now on – and the action is underway with the Norfolk Stakes at 2.30.
Quick Guide Greg Wood’s Thursday tips
Show
Ripon
1.35 Stellarmasterpiece
2.05 Lovely Spirit
2.40 Canaria Queen
3.20 Garden Oasis
3.55 Manila Scouse
4.35 Continuance
5.10 Mambha
Chelmsford
2.15 Foro Romano
2.50 Dark Side Prince
3.30 Qamari
4.10 Tarjeeh
4.50 Chourmo
5.20 Noodle Mission
Royal Ascot
2.30 Whistlejacket
3.05 Chantilly
3.45 Kalpana
4.25 Kyprios
5.05 Mickley (nap)
5.40 King’s Gambit
6.15 Bopedro (nb)
Wolverhampton
5.28 Pique’
6.00 Cavallo Bay
6.35 Synthesize
7.10 They
7.40 Muttasil
8.10 Baroque Buoy
8.40 Ustath
Lingfield Park
6.25 Bakersboy
7.00 Worrals
7.30 Pit Boss
8.00 Porfin
8.30 Secret Bid
9.00 Spring Is Sprung
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