Our horse racing tipster gives his best bets for day one at Royal Ascot.
Yah Mo Be There e/w (3.05pm, Coventry Stakes)
A two-year-old colt out of Mohaather, Yah Mo Be There is one of the few horses in this race who hasn’t yet tasted victory.
Second on debut at York on May 16, he was difficult to keep in a straight line and found himself in behind the main body early on. He started to carve his way through the field from halfway, going on to take the lead only for Andesite to get back up late on to win.
With jockey Tom Marquand, who has been in superb form recently, now taking over, there is no reason why that form can’t be reversed provided the horse runs true.
Kerdos e/w (3.45pm, King Charles III Stakes)
Four-year-old colt Kerdos is an impressive sprinter who always stays on well but lacks the true top speed some other sprinters possess. Able to perform in all ground conditions, he came second in the Holyrood House Stakes here last year in good-to-firm ground, and won at Haydock in soft ground in his most recent start 23 days ago.
Sat just in behind the front-running Live In The Dream in that latest outing, he was asked to chase down the leader from a furlong and a half out. He took a little while to respond but really got motoring inside the final furlong and won going away. A win today would require further improvement but he should definitely be in the mix provided the pace is honest.
Notable Speech (4.25pm, St James’s Palace Stakes)
This three-year-old Godolphin colt out of Dubawi is undefeated so far in his career, with four wins to his name. The first three all came at Kempton Park, the most notable being a superb performance to win the 2,000 Guineas ahead of Rosallion to shock the racing world.
The danger to the selection could be Henry Longfellow, if he can put his poor reappearance behind him and improve significantly on better ground.
