4.20 - Ascot Gold Cup
ELDAR ELDAROV is expected to flourish amid the unique demands of Royal Ascot’s signature race.
My selection shares his name with a mixed martial art fighter and showed his share of combative spirit when lifting the Group 2 Queen’s Vase - the win came on the back of scores at Nottingham and Newcastle - at this meeting 12 months ago.
The Roger Varian-trained son of Dubawi lost his unbeaten record when stepping back to a mile and a half for the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp last July but was ready to rumble when lining up for the St Leger at Doncaster 59 days later.
Sent off at 9-2 in a field of nine for the final Classic of the season, Eldar Eldarov answered jockey David Egan’s every call, surging through the final furlong to beat Haskoy - the runner-up was demoted to fourth for interference - by a couple of lengths, with Emily Dickinson back in fifth.
Although below his best in seventh behind Trueshan in the Group 2 Long Distance Cup over two miles here in October - Coltrane ran second - Eldar Eldarov’s return to action in the Yorkshire Cup made him a prime candidate for top honours today.
Beaten half a length by Giavellotto (receiving 5lb) - Broome returned in third - the four-year-old gave a strong indication he’d be seen to best effect when stamina is subjected to its sternest test, and he can prove that point here.
Of his 13 rivals, Coltrane has improved since a handicap score in the Ascot Stakes over course and distance in 2022 and is respected.
While Trueshan needs rain, Subjectivist , an emphatic Gold Cup winner two years ago before injury intervened, is short-listed, along with Courage Mon Ami and Lone Eagle .
2.30 - Norfolk Stakes
AMERICAN RASCAL is fancied to follow his mother, Lady Aurelia - a two-time Royal Ascot heroine - onto the meeting’s roll of honour.
Wesley Ward, a 12-time winner at Royal Ascot, nominated Curlin’s son as his best chance of a victory over the five days.
And it’s not hard to see why, given American Rascal’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it debut at Keeneland in April.
A hot favourite to get the better of his 10 rivals, Joel Rosario’s mount knew his job, shadowing the lead from the outside and, when given the office, American Rascal zipped away to score by 10¼ lengths.
It’s hard to imagine a more taking debut from a colt whose dam gave one of the performances of the modern era when landing the Queen Mary Stakes by seven lengths in 2016 before following up by three in the King’s Stand Stakes 12 months later.
There’s plenty more where that came from and American Rascal, whose trainer drew a rare blank in 2022 can ensure normal service is resumed.
The Norfolk Stakes assembles its usual company of nascent sprint stars, with American Rascal’s compatriot No Nay Mets , the Donnacha O’Brien-saddled Devious and, at bigger odds, Reveiller joining favourite Elite Status on the list of dangers.
3.05 - King George V Stakes
BERTINELLI looks up to giving his rivals weight and a beating.
A son of US Triple Crown hero Justify and Together Forever, a Fillies’ Mile winner for Aidan O’Brien, Bertinelli had two starts as a juvenile, bettering a Leopardstown second in October with a neck margin in a Dundalk maiden the following month.
After another silver medal in a conditions event over a mile and a quarter at Cork in April on his return, Bertinelli crossed the Irish Sea for the London Gold Cup on Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes undercard last month.
Ryan Moore’s partner, competing from a mark of 99, had to be stoked along with two furlongs to run but came home with gusto to beat Bold Act by a neck in the style of a horse crying out for a mile and a half.
That race has launched the careers of Al Kazeem, Time Test and Defoe in recent seasons and Bertinelli, whose draw in stall 16 today is no disadvantage - seven of the past 10 victors have come from double-figure berths - has the potential to defy a 5lb rise before moving up in class.
Only upwardly mobile three-year-olds need apply for this white-hot handicap, which brings Tagabawa , Burglar , Peruse and Davideo into the reckoning.
3.40 - Ribblesdale Stakes
AL ASIFAH has the world at her hooves and should take her career tally to 3-3 as she takes on Group-race opposition for the first time.
Frankel’s daughter - dam Aneen is a winning half-sister to the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Irish 2,000 Guineas victor Awtaad - was too backward to get to the track during her two-year-old campaign, but she is making up for lost time.
Starting off in a mile-and-a-quarter maiden at Haydock Park at the end of May, Al Asifah justifying 8-15 favouritism by four and three-quarter lengths.
John and Thady Gosden then elected to send her for the Listed Agnes Keyser Fillies’ Stakes at Goodwood 11 days ago.
Again the odds-on market leader at 4-7, Jim Crowley’s mount laughed in her adversaries’ faces, sauntering into the lead on the outside before stretching away to humble Empress Wu by six and a half lengths.
She barely had to remove her tracksuit to win, so it’s no surprise to see Al Asifah making a quick return to the track, being supplemented for today’s rise in class.
An additional quarter mile here is no issue and a third career win is on the card before a possible crack at the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes back here next month.
Infinite Cosmos , Warm Heart and Luckin Brew are the best candidates for the minor medals.
5.00 - Britannia Stakes
GOOD KARMA is a going-places three-year-old who deserves his shot at a marquee handicap.
Already gelded before running down the field at Newbury last October on his racecourse bow, James Ferguson’s son of Dark Angel took a big step forward for a four-length call in a Wolverhampton maiden at the end of the following month.
Good Karma was off for the thick end of six months before shouldering a penalty in a seven-furlong novice stakes back at Newbury last month, but duly extended his upward curve.
A cosy victory looked in store when Danny Muscutt ranged up to the leaders at the two-furlong pole but Good Karma had to roll his sleeves up to account for Chelsea Square by a length and a half.
Taking a positive view, my selection looks as though he doesn’t volunteer much beyond what he’s asked, so the potential is there to go past his opening British Horseracing Authority handicap mark of 91.
Dangers lurk at every turn, with Docklands , Just An Hour , Saxon King and Theoryofeverything just four horses who are capable of having a say in proceedings.
5.35 - Hampton Court Stakes
CAERNARFON brings Classic credentials to the table and should be underestimated.
Her two-year-old season - also popular trainer Mick Channon’s last campaign before his retirement - was one of incremental improvement, including wins in a nursery at Ayr and Newmarket’s Listed Montrose Fillies’ Stakes.
That progress has ramped up a gear for Channon’s son Jack this year, beginning with a fourth, albeit at a respectful distance of 10½ lengths, to Mawj in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May.
That effort persuaded Channon jnr to go for the Oaks and Caernarfon justified the bold move with a 40-1 third to Soul Sister.
My selection hit the front two furlongs from the finish under Connor Beasley, but the way home proved a long one and Caernarfon’s stamina ebbed, Savethelastdance staying on to take second by a head, the pair a length and three-quarters behind the winner.
That effort makes coming back to 10 furlongs emphatically the right move, and Caernarfon gets the vote to give her handler a first Royal Ascot victory with just his third runner at the meeting.
Torito won the 10-furlong Lester Piggott Handicap at Epsom on Derby day with authority and is feared most, ahead of Bold Act and Captain Winters .
6.10 - Buckingham Palace Stakes
KINGDOM COME will be well served by coming back to seven furlongs, and has more than a prayer.
After failing to trouble the judge at Newbury and Doncaster in late summer 2021, the son of Kingman was off the track for 496 days, being gelded during his time on the sidelines.
But Clive Cox kept the faith and it was rewarded when Kingdom Come rattled up a Kempton Park hat-trick over seven furlongs, adding handicaps in February and April to success in a novice stakes in January.
Soft ground forced the four-year-old’s defection from the Victoria Cup over course and distance in May and a mile at Newbury a week later proved a step too far for Kieran Shoemark’s partner, who still has more to offer on the seventh outing of his life.
In a race of myriad possible outcomes, Montassib , Croupier and, at bigger prices, Ropey Guest all merit a second glance.
