Jane Mangan’s Royal Ascot William Hill Blog: Day One

By News Team
17th June 2024

William Hill ambassador Jane Mangan previews Day One of Royal Ascot.

Royal Ascot, Tuesday

I’m going to begin with the first race of the Royal meeting, the Queen Anne Stakes (2.30pm), a Top Price Guarantee race from William Hill. We have a nice cross-section of milers and I think this is a race where the pace is going to possibly burn up, because Audience showed what he could do in the Lockinge going forward and has one way of running, plus, we saw what Royal Scotsman did at Epsom. There’s likely to be a lot of pace on here, which I think would suit Jerome Reynier’s challenger Facteur Cheval, who was very effective on a quick surface last time at Meydan when he won the Dubai Turf. He was second in the QE2 last year, behind Big Rock, but that was on unsuitably soft ground. I think he can turn the form around with the other French raider with this surface likely to be quick. So, the Queen Anne opens proceedings and I think the first purse is going to go for export and that’s courtesy of Facteur Cheval and Jerome Reynier.

The St James’s Palace (4.25pm) is the race that you would hope to find the leading miler in the Classic generation, and I genuinely think this year’s renewal will unearth that because we have all three Guineas winners here from France, Ireland and the UK. I think Notable Speech has the strongest form, indicative as to how the form of Newmarket has turned out. Inisherin has confirmed the form, along with Rosallion and Haatem. Obviously, City Of Troy, if you could take that literally, but there’s so many horses from that Newmarket race that have come out and shown their ability. So, for Notable Speech to do what he did on the far side at Newmarket was extremely impressive. He’s done all his winning this year and has been kept busy, but he has had a small break since the Guineas to come directly here. If there’s to be a Champion Miler in the division this year, I believe it could, almost should, be Notable Speech if he can reproduce what he did at Newmarket and he’s one that I find difficult to oppose here.

Next up is the Ascot Stakes (5.05pm) over two-and-a-half-miles, featuring horses that are very familiar in National Hunt circles, and one horse who’s a very admirable dual-purpose type is Nusret. He has had no good fortune in terms of getting his suitable ground conditions for a very long time. The last time he ran on genuinely quick ground, he beat the re-opposing Almuhit at the Curragh over a mile-and-six and that was a good performance. He remains off a very workable mark of 91, Dylan Brown McMonagle taking the ride for Joseph O’Brien is a vote of confidence for me, and I think back on the sounder surface over this trip, Nusret could be very effective at an each-way price.

The final race of the day, the Copper Horse (6.15pm), the race that was won so emphatically by Vauban last year. I fancy another National Hunt type horse to win it this year, and that would be courtesy of My Mate Mozzie. He’s the last horse to get into the race, he’s scraped in down the bottom. Gavin Cromwell has had two runners at the Royal meeting, both of them have won. The horse was in action in Grade One company over fences this season, but we know he’s very capable on the Flat and he’s not short of pace as he showed in the Galway Hurdle last year, when he finished third. His profile suggests that this has been the plan ever since Cheltenham given he’s had a break. I think with Gary Carroll and Gavin Cromwell teaming up, he could be a major player to close the card on the first day in the Copper Horse.