Day 5 at Royal Ascot

This is the 304th edition of the daily blog page

A disastrous day for the blog selections yesterday, with all 3 well beaten despite me considering them all to hold serious chances in the morning. Was it the 11mm of rain before noon that put paid to their chances? Probably a contributory factor, but essentially it was also a mixture of not being good enough, being produced too early, and not settling in the early part of the race.

I was right about NATHANIEL in the King Edward VII Stakes. He has already been well-backed for the St Leger and, on yesterday’s display, he’s up to winning that classic race. Previous blog winner GLEN’S DIAMOND simply was not good enough, and a drop in class and trip should see him in better light.

The AP O’Brien filly TOGETHER came with a scything run thru’ the field before having to be checked inside, and then ran out of puff. I got the impression that she was produced too early and that, plus the softer going, meant she had nothing left in the final 150 yards and she faded from contention. She can do better than this on quicker going.

There was a huge market move for Green Destiny in the Wolferton handicap, and it did not come off. From watching the replay, I thought the horse took a knock in the 1st furlong of the race which he was feeling thereon. He could be one to be on NTO. My selection, SPANISH DUKE, was well fancied by some good judges having all in his favour. However, he could not settle, and was fighting his jockey for the 1st half of the race expending valuable energy, and when asked for an effort in the final half-mile he was already exhausted and found nothing – in fact he virtually slowed to a canter. As such, we got no sort of run but he is hugely talented and (like the winner Beachfire) he will come good again. Beachfire was phenomenal in winning this race, a terrific turn-of-foot, and it shows just what the right conditions and equipment (he was wearing blinkers for the 1st time) will do.

The rain thru’out the country will make the going unpredictable today, and as such I am giving racing a rest. I have been given a big plug for one at a long price in the Wokingham at Ascot by “The Laird” at Sprinterstogo (http://sprinterstogo.blogspot.com/) so follow the link and take a look.

That’s it from me for a couple of weeks as I am off to Ibiza, but I will be back – with the blog – in early July.

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