Horse Racing
Newsboy’s horseracing tips and 1-2-3 for every race at Royal Ascot on Thursday
Newsboy marks you card for every race at Royal Ascot and predicts a 1-2-3 for the fixture on Thursday from seven highly competitive races
2.30 Norfolk Stakes
SATURDAY FLIRT did enough on her debut to suggest she can beat the boys and give Wesley Ward a 13th Royal Ascot victory.
Two of those successes have come in the Norfolk Stakes via No Nay Never in 2013 and Shang Shang Shang five years later – and Ward has targeted Saturday Flirt at today’s target since an impressive debut on the Keeneland turf on April 26.
That day, Mendelssohn’s daughter went off a warm order against 10 rivals for a five-and-a-half-furlong maiden special weight for fillies – and didn’t disappoint her backers.
Ridden by Irad Ortiz jnr – Joel Rosario is in the plate today – Saturday Flirt straightened for home in eighth place but powered home to hold Bois Blanc by a length and a quarter.
There is plenty more where that came from from a filly who crosses the Atlantic with stable confidence on a high.
Whistlejacket is a short-priced favourite after her second-time-out Curragh romp and commands respect, along with Shareholder , Milford and Aesterius .
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 SATURDAY FLIRT, 2 WHISTLEJACKET, 3 AESTERIUS
3.05 King George V Stakes
GILDED WATER, running for the same connections as last year’s winner, Desert Hero, should give a good account of himself.
The King and Queen’s son of Fastnet Rock – dam Fiery Sunset was a winner in the royal colours over a mile and a half – didn’t make the racecourse as a two-year-old and had been gelded by the time the William Haggas trainee made his debut at Newmarket’s Craven fixture.
But there was promise in Gilded Water’s fifth in a one-mile maiden, and in his third in a novice stakes over the same trip at Windsor at the second time of asking.
Gilded Water then made it third time lucky when stepping up to 10 furlongs for a maiden at Chepstow on May 31, lengthening seven and a half lengths clear of James Webb.
An additional quarter mile will be of benefit to Tom Marquand’s mount, for whom an opening British Horseracing Authority mark of 92 looks within range.
In a race of endless possible outcomes, Ralph Beckett pair Going The Distance and Poniros make appeal, as do Chantilly and French Duke .
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 GILDED WATER, 2 GOING THE DISTANCE, 3 FRENCH DUKE
3.45 Ribblesdale Stakes
DIAMOND RAIN, filly with an outstanding pedigree, is unbeaten – and is expected to stay that way.
As a daughter of Shamardal – my selection is out of 2011 Oaks heroine Dancing Rain – the Charlie Appleby-saddled filly is bred to gallop.
And so it has proved.
Unraced as a juvenile, Dancing Rain made her debut at Ascot on May Day, sent off at 7-2 in a field of eight for a one-mile novice stakes for fillies, overcoming trouble in the run to beat Shaha by a head.
My selection then moved up to Listed level, and to 10 furlongs, for the Fillies’ Trial on Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes undercard last month.
And Diamond Rain took a big step forward, still on the bridle when hitting the front under William Buick at the quarter-mile pole and lengthening away to beat Ejaabiyah by two and a quarter lengths.
The Godolphin filly is a long way from the bottom of the barrel and is expected to deal with the foray into Group 2 company.
Ralph Beckett pair You Got To Me and Forest Fairy , and Port Fairy are the most convincing candidates for the minor medals.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 DIAMOND RAIN, 2 YOU GOT TO ME, 3 PORT FAIRY
4.25 Gold Cup
GREGORY was successful at the meeting 12 months ago and rates the value alternative to hot favourite Kyprios .
We didn’t see the John and Thady Gosden-trained son of Clarehaven’s 2015 Derby victor Golden Horn at two but he made up for lost time as a three-year-old, adding to a debut score at Haydock Park in April of last year with a win in the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood four weeks later.
The Gosdens then brought Gregory to Royal Ascot for the Group 2 Queen’s Vase, in which he beat Saint George by a length and a half.
The unbeaten record went west with a third behind Continuous in the same-level Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August before he finished fifth to the same rival in the St Leger at Doncaster the following month.
But there was much to like about his comeback when a rallying third to Giavellotto in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup – Vauban split the pair in second – on the Knavesmire last month.
James Doyle’s mount looks ready for a stern test and he gets the vote to give his trainer combination and owners Wathnan Racing, on the mark with the sidelined Courage Mon Ami in 2023, back to back wins in the meeting’s signature race.
Kyprios captured this race a year earlier and will obviously be hard to beat if he can reproduce his best, with Trawlerman , Coltrane and Caius Chorister taken to fight it out for the bronze medal.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 GREGORY, 2 KYPRIOS, 3 COLTRANE
5.05 Britannia Stakes
STARLORE got no luck in running at Goodwood last time out, but is capable of a bold show if he gets the breaks.
On the back of a winning start to his career at Sandown Park last July, Kingman’s son ran third in the Group 3 Solario Stakes over the Esher track’s seven furlongs before signing off with a last of nine on soft ground at York six weeks later.
Starlore finished fourth in a conditions event at Newmarket’s Craven meeting and made his handicap debut at Goodwood on May 25.
My selection didn’t help his cause with a slow start but then found every door closing in his face but he steamed home for a seventh placing, two and a half lengths behind winner Qirat, and can show his true colours here.
The Britannia shortlist is, unsurprisingly, a long one – with Native Warrior, Volterra and Follow Me at its head.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 STARLORE, 2 NATIVE WARRIOR, 3 FOLLOW ME
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5.40 Hampton Court Stakes
FIRST LOOK is the selection to make the most of a drop in grade after a fine second in the Prix du Jockey Club 18 days ago.
The going at Chantilly was hock deep when André Fabre’s Lope De Vega colt, previously a podium finisher in Group 3 company at the same venue and at Longchamp, took in the French version of the Derby – and First Look encounters a faster racing surface today.
But if James Doyle’s partner can reproduce that performance – he ran on strongly through the final furlong to be beaten a couple of lengths at the line – the French raider is well capable of making his presence felt as he descends two rungs down the class ladder.
King’s Gambit, who goes up to Group 3 level after landing Newbury’s London Gold Cup handicap by four lengths, is feared most, while Bracken’s Laugh and Bellum Justum are others to throw into the mix.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 FIRST LOOK, 2 KING’S GAMBIT, 3 BRACKEN’S LAUGH
6.15 Buckingham Palace Stakes
FRESH is exciting now that he returns to his favourite hunting ground.
From 14 visits to Royal Berkshire – many of them in fiercely competitive handicaps – James Fanshawe’s stable stalwart has won three times and has four in-the-frame efforts on his CV.
The bad news for his backers is that the seven-year-old is on a losing run of 13 – he last saw the inside of a winner’s enclosure after landing a course-and-distance handicap in September 2022.
But the good news is Fresh competes from a 10lb lower mark of 92 this afternoon.
Factor in that there were unmistakable green shoots in a running-on fifth behind Buccabay over six furlongs at Haydock Park 12 days ago and Hayley Turner’s mount has a good chance of rewarding each-way support – at the very least.
Gold Cup day’s getting-out stakes could hardly be trickier, with favourite English Oak, Kings Time, Divine Libra and Northern Express just four horses who are worth a second glance.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 FRESH, 2 ENGLISH OAK, 3 DIVINE LIBRA
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