Friday, June 20, 2008

Royal Ascot - Saturday

It hasn't been a particularly good Royal Ascot for yours truly. Mrs Tips put the top hat on today's dismal performance by walking into the living room, picking Lush Lashes because she liked the name (wins @ 5/1) and then returning ten minutes later to gloat. What little confidence I had has been shot to pieces; I'm going back to novice hurdles at Hereford.

Royal Ascot has been famously described as a garden tea party with a bit of racing thrown in on the side - the BBC's coverage tends to pander to that view. Solely for the sake of completeness, you understand, here are two selections for tomorrow...

Maraahel obliged for this blog last year when winning the Hardwicke Stakes and goes for the same race again but I fear old age is catching up with him - the Weekender informs us it's over 100 years since a horse aged seven or older has won this. The favourite has only won once in the last ten years which doesn't bode well for Macarthur so I'm going to take a chance with Sir Michael Stoute's course and distance winner Spanish Moon.

In the concluding Queen Alexandra Stakes which is run over a marathon distance just shy of two and three quarter miles, Aidan O'Brien's Honolulu stands out on ratings and, provided he stays, must have a major chance. Ballydoyle has had an excellent week - with an air of quiet desperation, I hope Honolulu can put a smile back on my face.

1 comment:

GeeDee said...

Spanish Moon (3/1) didn't look particularly strong in the market beforehand and the money talked as Macarthur (11/8f) battled hard to overhaul Henry Cecil's Multidimensional (25/1) a neck while the selection found nothing two out to come home sixth.
Honolulu (7/4f) provided some respite by winning the finale one and a half lengths but this winner doesn't compensate for the damage done earlier in the week.