It's been a tough week for punters at Royal Ascot as a succession of long priced winners have romped to victory. You'd have banked £550,000 for a £1 accumulator on the first five races on Wednesday and £910,000 for the same bet on Thursday, aided by a record 150-1 winner of the first.
Friday's card is never easy but there is plenty of value to be found and some real quality too, if you hold your nerve after three difficult days for backers. LITTLE BIG BEAR did little wrong in an award-winning two-year old campaign and bounced back from a last place finish in the 2000 Guineas to win well at Haydock last month.
You must forgive him that run at Newmarket - the horse was later reported to have finished lame - and a drop back to six furlongs in the Commonwealth Cup (3.05pm) will certainly suit a horse with a Group One already in the bank from last year's Phoenix Stakes.
The showdown between the English and Irish 2000 Guineas champions was comfortably won by Aidan O'Brien's Paddington in the Prince of Wales's Stakes but it would have been very different if the two 1000 Guineas stars had clashed in the feature Coronation Stakes (4.20pm).
READ MORE: United must know how much a new No.9 will cost after their last negotiation
Surely Mawj, so impressive at Newmarket, would have reversed the above but in her absence it's hard to look past Dermot Weld's TAHIYRA, who was impressive justifying her odds-on price to claim a Classic at the Curragh. BREEGE finished 11 lengths behind her in that race but drops down in class to contest the Sandringham Stakes (5.00pm) off a healthy mark and double-digit price.
Roger Varian's KING OF STEEL ran home in an impressive second, at odds of 66-1, in the Epsom Derby, just half a length behind Auguste Rodin, a horse with a seemingly limitless future should connections keep him in training beyond this three-year old season.
Frankie Dettori's Arrest was favourite for the Derby but was well beaten, King of Steel having his measure by over 12 lengths. It was clear Epsom and the good to firm ground didn't suit, the latter another factor not in his favour in the King Edward VII Stakes (5.35pm).
Alan King's HMS PRESIDENT has increasingly become an all or nothing type, either placing or finishing in double digits in his last ten starts. The worry is perhaps the going, King would surely like less rattling quick ground, but the draw is key in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (3.40pm) - with only one winner since 2008 coming from a single figure stall. HMS President is drawn 11.
There is plenty to like in the manner of JABAARA'S win in her only start at Newmarket just one month go. In a ten runner race, she was seventh at the final furlong pole but showed impressive acceleration, jockey David Egan hitting the button as she surged through the field to win by nearly a length, with seemingly more in the tank.
The eye-catching manner of that win makes you think there could be even more to come in the Albany Stakes (2.30pm). HARRY BROWN could go one better than his sire Harry Angel, who finished a narrow second to the talented Caravaggio in the Commonwealth Cup here six years ago.
Breeding suggests he'll have the pure speed for the five-furlong Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes (6.10pm) and you had to admire how he travelled to finish third in his last start at Goodwood. Jockey Hayley Turner won the same race 12 months ago and could add to her tally of four Royal Ascot wins after an impressive success in Thursday's Britannia Stakes.
Selections:
2.30: Jabarra
3.05: Little Big Bear
3.40: HMS President
4.20: Tahiyra
5.00: Breege
5.35: King of Steel
6.10: Harry Brown
