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Royal Hunt Cup Trends

  • A previous win over this mile trip was on the resume of sixteen of the last seventeen winners
  • Fourteen of the last seventeen victors were aged either four or five
  • A run at Ascot in the past was in the form of ten of the last seventeen winners
  • Thirteen of the last seventeen winners carried 9-1 or less in the weights
  • Low stalls have struggled, eleven of the last thirteen winners drawn in double figures

Always a cavalry charge of a handicap where simply being well handicapped isn’t enough to be able to score. One who looks a group horse in the making is often the way to go in these marquee handicaps and the 2019 renewal looks no different. Read on for our antepost Royal Hunt Cup preview for Royal Ascot

One who fits the bill of looking like he can take higher order is New Graduate. The Ripon handicap he ripped to shreds in April had looked a competitive race beforehand, with the second, third and fourth all winning since to give the form a strong look. He has only had four races in his career, running into Zaaki on his racecourse debut, that rival going on to a Group 3 win at Epsom at the Derby meeting. Given his unexposed profile, there should be plenty more to come and despite a fifteen-pound hike for that success, he could still be a blot on the handicap from his new mark.

The one closest to him in the market is Blue Mist, though he needs plenty ahead of him in the weights to come out for him to get a run at present. A winner over this course and distance last April from six pounds lower, the drop to seven furlongs on his 2019 return was no help. His run style suggests a big field handicap run at an end to end gallop is going to see him to best effect, travelling powerfully through his races and seeing out this trip strongly. Relatively unexposed still, it’s not hard to see him being able to find improvement.

Settle For Bay landed this contest in 2018, six pounds higher in his repeat bid. He hinted that he is running back into form at Leopardstown in a Listed race last time out, noted keeping on from the back. His big advantage is the experience in a huge field, with this race being run to suit his style well. The biggest negative for him is that in a race first run in 1843, there has been just a single horse to win it twice, Master Vote in 1947 and 1948. That’s a huge historical disadvantage for him to overcome.

Third in 2018 was Circus Couture, bouncing back to form from a reduced mark at Nottingham last time out. That came from nine pounds lower than his run in this race, a five-pound penalty for that still leaving him below that mark. A very strong stayer at this trip, a first-time visor played a part in getting him back to close to his best. Connections will be hopeful of another big effort, with the harder they go in front in this big field, the more he will like it.

Connections of Bowerman have had to be patient with the son of Dutch Art, the five-year-old only making it to the track five times in his career thus far. Just a single one of those was on turf, easy enough to forgive that slightly below par effort given it came off the back of a 489-day absence. He travelled well for a long way there, going through the race powerfully on his most recent start at Newcastle. The handicapper has hit him hard for that with another nine pounds to defy but he is lightly-raced enough for there to be more to come, though yet to see a field bigger than twelve will give him more to think about.

The issues in the Martyn Meade yard have been well documented this season, Chilean unable to make an appearance yet this year. He began last year with a Group 3 win in France so fresh clearly isn’t a concern for him. An RPR of 108 there would make his current mark of 101 looks on the low side trying handicap company for the first time if he is able to reproduce that level of form. He could do with it being a wet fortnight ahead of the meeting as the best for his form has all come with plenty of cut in the ground, his chance increasing plenty if it’s soft.

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