Royal Ascot, Day Two – 21/06/2023
We move on to day 2 of the Royal meeting on Wednesday. Another 7-races of full fields and top-class racing gets underway at 2:30 with the Queen Mary Stakes. Don’t forget to check out our teams’ thoughts on the feature race, the Prince of Wales’s stakes today. Alongside that, our team have found 3 other bets on Wednesdays card.
2:30 Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2)
An early look at the markets for this race would suggest that the American horses would have a good chance and Wesley Ward has won this race 4 times since 2009. For that reason, Bundchen does need to be taken seriously, but she hung badly in the closing stages of her debut at Keeneland and being a daughter of Gun Runner, it’s debatable whether she really wants a stiff finish on turf. Perhaps of more interest is the George Weaver trained Crimson Advocate, who built on a promising debut to win well at Gulfstream in Florida. She is a well related daughter of Nyquist and looks to have the speed necessary for this race, for all that the straight 5-furlong sprint course at Ascot is a world away from what she has experienced so far around a bend in the US.
Whilst it is highly possible that one of the American based horses is a superstar, the balance of probability would suggest that they are not and so we will focus on the home team. The horse who has probably achieved the most is Got to Love a Grey. Karl Burke has made a great start with his 2-year-olds this season and she is close to the top of that list after impressive wins at Nottingham and York. She recorded a speed rating of over 100 when winning the Marygate at York and that probably sets the standard of those with recent form. However, away from the UK there is another runner who has run to a similar standard and that is our selection, Balsam. She has run 3 times in France, breaking her maiden in a Listed race on her 3rd start at Vichy last time. Ryan Moore has been booked for the ride by the Devin team and she has shaped like a Filly who will be very well suited to the stiff finish up the Ascot hill. She is a half-sister to Stormy Antarctic and so is likely to stay further in time, but for now she has shown more than enough speed to suggest this race is the right choice for her.
5:35 Queen’s Vase (Group 2)
This race has a tendency to be won by a truly top-class stayer as they rise through the ranks. Estimate, Leading Light, Stradivarius, Kew Gardens and last year Eldar Eldarov. Nearly all of the runners in this year’s fit into the same categories, lightly raced, open to improvement, likely to improve because they are stepping up in trip. We don’t intend to go through all of the runners, but the one horse who really caught the eye was Gregory. Trained by the Gosdens, he is 2 from 2 in his short career. Having won on debut over an extended 11-furlongs at Haydock in April, he took a step up in class in his stride when winning the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood 4-weeks ago. He was still slightly green in running, but he picked up readily when asked for his effort by Rab Havlin and he dominated the race once he hit the front in the closing stages. He looks very capable of taking this step into Group company and when he wins this, he will probably be the Antepost favourite for the St Leger.
6:10 Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed Race)
Another field of unexposed 2-year-old sprinters, the final race on day 2 could hardly be considered as the “getting out of jail” stakes, but we think we have found an angle. Whilst we don’t like the chances of the American horses in the Queen Mary earlier in the day, we do in this race. Hootenanay won this race in 2014 for Wesley Ward (the last American winner) but on fast ground, the speed shown by Bledsoe when he won on debut at Keeneland in April would suggest that this scenario will be perfect for him. He was sent off a shade of odds on for his debut, suggesting that he had been showing plenty at home and he will have learnt a lot from that Keeneland run. Having settled behind the leader, he was green a time times, but still quickened readily to come through runners and win going away under a hands ride from Joel Rosario. He has left Wesley Ward since that run, but the switch to the very capable Ollie Sangster is of no concern and in an open race without a standout candidate, he is worth chancing with all the speed in his pedigree.
