I'm short on time so some very quick notes...
The weekend feature, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Ascot 4.35), is intriguing. Last year's winner, Nathaniel, took the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown a fortnight ago with a gutsy display on his seasonal debut; there must be some concern he won't have fully recovered from those exertions. In a race where the market has proved a decent guide in the past, I prefer Sea Moon to St Nicholas Abbey following his victory in a competitive renewal of the Harwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot but Sir Michael Stoute is not overly bullish about his colt's chance in a piece in today's Times so I'm not going to play. The three-year-old Japanese runner Deep Brillante (20/1 Bet Victor) is the each-way suggestion for those interested; at the time of writing bet365, 888Sport and Blue Square are the layers offering a quarter the odds a place.
Never mind the Flat, there's a decent jumps card at Market Rasen, with the Summer Plate (3.25) the highlight. You'd have reservations about the jumping with a few of those entered including Benbane Head, Tiger O'Toole, Eastlake and likely favourite Spock. Last year's winner Qulinton is a quirky individual who has been out of form for a while but last time hinted he could be on the way back and tries a visor here; Lawney Hill's I Have Dreamed has been running in hunter chases for the best part of 18 months. Peter Bowen regularly targets this prize, having won four of the last nine renewals; often he saddles several but this year he's single-handed with Al Co. Champion trainer Paul Nicholls has declared two - I much prefer That'll Do (Harry Derham claiming seven) to Spock. Al Co is my idea of the winner while That'll Do is suggested as an each-way alternative.
Finally, a couple to monitor - Mick Channon's Ctappers in the opener and Bellaboosh in the 4.40.
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You couldn't help but feel for connections of Nathaniel (5/2). The colt ran a stormer just a fortnight on from the Eclipse but was beaten a nose by Arc-winning filly Danedream (9/1). Deep Brillante (20/1) pulled hard early on but was outclassed up the home straight finishing eighth of the ten.
Al Co (5/1f) put up a decent effort in the Summer Plate to go down a short head to I Have Dreamed (9/1). Having said that, he had it all to do up the home straight and in the circumstances did well to get so close on the line - the pair pulled eight lengths clear of Qulinton (12/1) in third. The plan was obviously to ride Al Co wide and give him a clear sight of the obstacles - he doesn't look the biggest and perhaps was less fluent than some at the fences but he was certainly motoring at the finish. That'll Do (11/2) was priced longer in Friday's tissue and looked likely to be involved as they started the turn for home but faded to finish eighth; stableamte Spock (8/1) fell at the ninth.
The two to monitor both obliged - Ctappers at 3/1 while Bellaboosh (9/2) held 11/10 favourite Ballybough Gorta a length on the line.
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