Royal Ascot: Day Four – 23/06/2023
We have now passed the halfway stage of the Royal Meeting, but the competitive racing keeps coming on Friday with another 7-race card at Ascot, which kicks off at 2:30 with another sprint for the 2-year-olds, this time the Albany Stakes. Don’t forget to check out our teams’ thoughts on the feature races on the day, the Commonwealth Cup (3:05) and the Coronation Stakes (4:20). Away from the Group 1 races, our team have also found 3 bets on the rest of the card to get the weekend off to a winning start.
2:30 – Albany Stakes (Group 3)
We start the fourth day with yet another 2-year-old sprint and as usual this race is packed full of unexposed types who are open to any amount of improvement. We can only judge the race based on the form that we have in the book and the strongest piece of form coming into this race would look to be the Group 3 Sprint Stakes run at Naas on 21st May. The winner of the race, Porta Fortuna, is 2 from 2 in her short career and will have learned plenty from a pair of similar runs where she has quickened away after coming through runners from the middle of the pack. She travelled very strongly through the race at Naas, coming through the gap to kick clear with 300-yards to run and holding on in the closing stages. Most of her immediate family are middle-distance horses (her dam won over 12-furlongs) and so this stiff finish over 6-furlongs looks likely to suit as it did at Naas. She is a daughter of Caravvagio, so is unlikely to be short of early speed and with Frankie Dettori booked to ride, she is likely to be a relatively popular horse in the markets, but there is another clue from that Sprint Stakes at Naas which the market has maybe overlooked.
Navassa Island was second to Porta Fortuna at Naas, but that doesn’t tell the entire story of what was an eventful debut for this daughter of Territories. The fact that she was pitched into Listed company on her debut shows the high regard in which she is held by her connections, and she ran with enormous credit to be beaten just a neck. Having broken well, she settled nicely but was hampered and forced wide at a crucial stage and forced much wider on the track than Porta Fortuna before closing on her all the way to the line. The pair were a long way clear of the rest and they ran a fast time to suggest that this is a solid form. With more luck in running, Navassa Island looks highly likely to develop into a Filly who is capable of running well at this level and she represents some excellent each-way value.
5:00 – Sandringham Stakes (Fillies Handicap)
If there was one horse in our trackers that we wanted to back on Friday, it was Magical Sunset. Trained by Richard Hannon for Amo Racing, she won 3 of her 5 starts as a Juvenile last year and began this season as one of the more interesting fillies in the yard. Things haven’t quite gone to plan in pattern company. She was a beaten favourite in the Dubai Duty Free at Newbury in April, a performance which can probably be excused on account of the soft round. Since then, we must highlight that she has had issues at the start, ducking out in a Group 3 here in May and then being slowly away in the Surrey stakes at Epsom last time. It is a concern, but it does not appear to be an attitude issue and she stayed on very strongly at Epsom in the closing stages to suggest that the ability is still there. A mark of 102 looks fair on the pick of her form and it will be interesting to see if she can translate her group form into handicaps. The big field should suit and because of her indifferent results so far this season, she is a very decent each-way price to get stuck into.
5:35 – King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2)
It could be a very good day for Kevin Stott and Amo Racing on Friday because if Magical Sunset has strong claims, then King of Steel’s are even stronger. Although Roger Varian’s colt is very lightly raced, it was impossible not to be impressed by his second placed finish in the Derby 3-weeks ago and if he runs to that level, he will win this. It could be argued that he hit the front too soon at Epsom, but it seems more likely that he was just beaten fairly by an exceptional horse and the fact that the pair put 4-lengths between themselves and the rest of the field bodes very well in this field. He has produced a genuine 120+ performance at Epsom and it is hard to argue that any of the other runners in this field have achieved that. Provided he is over his Epsom effort, he should outclass this field and looks to be one of the more solid favourites of the week.
