Friday brought about a deluge to Royal Ascot, with the going description switching to Heavy from Good to Firm in a matter of hours. With seven races over the course of Friday cutting up the ground, Ascot’s turf will be like glue on Saturday.
As a result, you’ll need a horse with plenty of stamina and an affinity for softer ground. We’ve done the hard work for you and found three horses who will love the rain-sodden conditions at Ascot tomorrow. The treble pays 285-1 and you can find all the details below.
A son of El Kabeir, MASEKELA wasn’t an obvious candidate for six furlongs on his Goodwood debut last month. Sent off at 9/2, he glided through the soft conditions and only needed a hands and heels ride to pull clear in the closing stages.
That was a taking performance and he can only improve for the extra yardage in the Chesham. He’s a half-brother to Asoof, who was Group-placed over ten furlongs, and Fashion Theory, whose optimum trip was the mile and beyond.
Andrew Balding won the Albany yesterday with a once-raced filly and this stoutly-bred two-year-old could add to his Royal Ascot tally under Oisin Murphy.
Winning two of his four starts thus far, KHARTOUM has been highly progressive and holds obvious claims of doubling Aidan O’Brien’s 2021 Royal Ascot tally. A son of Pioneerof The Nile, he’s closely related to Monarch Of Egypt and is also a half-brother to Cantiniere.
Costing $1,000,000, it’s fare to say he’s well thought of and he posted a career-best effort on his second start of 2021, winning a handicap at Naas in facile fashion. He relished the softer ground over the mile, doing all his best work late on, and a strongly-run seven-furlong test will be just what he wants.
Given that he stays a mile, there will be no stamina doubts for Ryan Moore. He’s likely to be ridden chilly at the back, on ground he loves, to come with one sweeping challenge. The race should set up nicely for him and he’s a massive contender at each-way odds.
Winning the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer over 1m 5f last season, HUKUM is a very strong stayer. He was aimed at the St Leger on his final three-year-old start, acquitting himself extremely well to finish fifth behind some very smart horses.
He was a shade disappointing on return at Sandown behind Waldkonig, but he built on that effort when scoring in workmanlike fashion at Goodwood last time over twelve furlongs. That wasn’t overly impressive, but it was on rain-soaked ground and the race certainly didn’t work out in his favour.
Staying at 1m 4f wouldn’t perhaps be ideal on that basis, but he’ll get a proper gallop to at this time and he’s two from two when the going has soft in the description. His extra stamina will come into play late on and he could swoop in the dying strides under Jim Crowley.
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