Richard Hoiles: 3 each-way picks for Tuesday at Royal Ascot
16 Jun
Horse Racing
Richard Hoiles
The racing broadcaster discusses his three selections for the first day of the Royal meeting, and picks out one horse running away from the limelight.

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There will be daily blogs over five terrific days at Royal Ascot. It can be a long week and the key point from a betting perspective is to pick your battles. With large fields and, in the juvenile races, a whole host of horses turning up with a once-raced, once-victorious profile, it is easy to get swamped with the volume.

The international challengers also add interest but, again, can be tough to line up with the domestic form. So, although I will enjoy the Kings Stand clash (15:40) between the two Aussie raiders Cannonball and Coolangatta and the admirable Highfield Princess, I will do so without a strong opinion as to who will come out on top.

As regards to overall strategy for the week, form at the track is a plus for me, especially if it is at the Royal meeting. Ascot, especially on the straight track, has a fairly unique fast-draining turf profile and some horses just don’t seem suited by it. Sires like Dubawi, Authorised and Oasis Dream are also personal plusses if there is no form at the track.

TUESDAY ROYAL ASCOT SELECTIONS

The first horse of interest to me is CASH 20/1 in the opener (14:30). He is a horse that has yet to put it all together but flashed a very good turn of foot in the Brigadier Gerard last month before failing to see the trip out against a pair of genuine Group 1 horses in Desert Crown and Hukum. Prior to that, he had run Chindit close enough at Ascot on his seasonal return to think he looks overpriced here. I have to admit that, at the time of marking him as one to follow, I didn’t expect this to be his next run but, at the odds, a small each-way throw at the stumps looks justified.

 Next up is ROYAL SCOTSMAN 14/1 in the St James’s Palace (16:20). Bringing together the form lines of the English, Irish and French 2000 Guineas, this race will likely go a long way to determining the leading three-year-old miler come the end of the season.

The angle here is one I mentioned last weekend – ‘recency bias’. This is where punters give a horse’s last run, good or bad, undue influence in assessing its likely performance this time around. Having performed admirably against Chaldean in both the Dewhurst and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, connections dipped into their pockets to supplement him for the Irish equivalent, only to be rewarded with an abject display. That was massively out of character and it may well be that the travelling, coupled with a three-week turnaround with a serious gallop in between to determine whether or not to send him, left him flat.

He has form at the Royal meeting having travelled really well in the Coventry last season and looks a cracking each-way bet at a double-figure price.

CALLING THE WIND 10/1, by Authorised, is a tough, consistent horse who the handicapper has given a chance in the Ascot Stakes (17:00), especially with Billy Loughnane able to take off another 3lb. Not beaten far in the Chester Cup when a bit short of room late on, he has decent form in some of the top staying handicaps like the Cesarewitch off higher marks and placed in the Queen Alexandra at the Royal meeting last season.

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

During the week, I will also pop in the odd horse running away from the limelight who may be worth a second glance.

Tuesday’s is RAFIKI SP (14:40, Stratford) on his first start for James Owen who is a trainer well worth keeping an eye on. James has been involved in pre-training, has enjoyed success in the Arabian and Point to Point field and is now assembling a bigger string of horses to race under rules.

Rafiki won a novice hurdle at Stratford for Alan King and was picked up for just £11,000 at the recent sales. He can make a quick return on that investment here for a yard that are worth following closely.

SELECTIONS:

CASH 20/1 (14:30, Royal Ascot)

ROYAL SCOTSMAN 14/1 (16:20, Royal Ascot)

CALLING THE WIND 10/1 (17:00, Royal Ascot)

RAFIKI SP (14:40, Stratford)