ROYAL ASCOT – THURSDAY

1:50 Wolferton Stakes

Walkinthesand (Pat Dobbs)

Fast ground is the key to him so I wouldn’t really want to see much more rain as it blunts his good turn of foot which is why we took him out of Haydock last week. But he’s done another good bit of work at home so is straight enough and on his very best form he could easily sneak into a place.

2:25 G2 Jersey Stakes

Mystery Power (Silvestre de Sousa)

We’ve always held this colt in very high regard and he proved himself a top two year old when beating Juan Elcano in the G2 Superlative Stakes at the July meeting and then sadly he bumped into Pinatubo a couple of times afterwards! Seven furlongs is his optimum and he’s been away to Kempton to work a couple of times so shouldn’t be found wanting from a fitness point of view. He seems to go on any ground and appears to have trained on so I’m hopeful he can run a big race.

3:00 Chesham Stakes

Clarendon Cross (Pat Dobbs)

He ran very green on his first run at Haydock so I’d be expecting plenty of improvement here as that outing seems to have really sharpened him up. That was only nine days ago so you’d have to be slightly concerned about the ‘bounce’ factor but it’s the same for all of them and he’s hardly done anything home this week. He could quite easily out run his odds.

4:10 Britannia Handicap

Ziggle Pops (Sean Levey)

He wanted every yard of seven furlongs at Lingfield last time and looked to be crying out for a mile and I have to admit it was quite a surprise to see him win like he did because I’d left plenty to work on fitness-wise. The Britannia is a tough race to win but this colt looks ideal for it because he’s got enough experience to cope with the hurly burly nature but also has a little bit of improvement in him and I reckon he’s got a cracking each way shout at 18/1 with Unibet.

Sun Power (Silvestre de Sousa)

He ran a few nice races last year but kept managing to get beaten, however he’s matured a lot over the winter and we had him gelded too which seems to have helped with his attitude. He put in a very pleasing piece of work last week and is coming right at the right time. I couldn’t say he’s win material but I’ve not given up hope just yet and I still think there’s a decent race in him.

4:40 Sandringham Handicap

Separate (Sean Levey)

She’s so tough hence we kept her pretty busy a two year old but her work has been excellent, as it always is, and her experience will count for plenty in a race of this nature. There is no reason to suggest she hasn’t trained on and she handles any ground.