QUEEN MARY: 9:30 ET
Wesley Ward has a very good record in the Queen Mary taking it 3 times from 9 tries and KIMARI looks the clear pick on the figure of her debut backed up by the form working out well, if she gets anywhere near that form shes going to take some stopping. It’s a massive 28 runner field though with lots of lightly raced that could Jump up. Final Song is favourite presently and was impressive on debut and has had a few weeks to mature since then. Divine Spirit was an 850k breeze up buy and won on debut despite showing she’s still a big baby. Good Vibes has improved with each run and has the best figure of the home team. Theory of Time was well backed on debut and travelled very well, her figure was ok and shes had a while to mature. Get the pounders out for KIMARI and pray.
QUEEN’S VASE: 10:05 ET
The Queen’s Vase is a race that’s typically been domintaed by 2 yards Aidan O’Brien(6 winners since 2000) and Mark Johnston(7 winners since 2000) but the recent drop from 2 miles to 1m6f and increase to Group 2 status has brought a bit more quality to the race. O’brien brings a couple of decent contenders in and they set the standard but I don’t feel they offer much value, Ryan Moore is on Norway who looked an exciting stayer at 2 but has been left well behind be stablemates in his last 2 starts. Themaxwecan is in for Mark Johnston and he looks a nice lazy grinding type of stayer the form of his last race has worked out well and he would be the pick in the old style race over 2 miles but he might just find this too salty. Charlie Appleby has a couple of interesting contenders in Jalmoud who fought back well to win last time, and MOONLIGHT SPIRIT who ran a big figure destroying a race at Leicester before slightly disappointing in a Group 3 in France, I think the winner of that might be very good though and the slow pace was against Moonlight Spirit, he’s got a very stout pedigree for the trip and looks like he’ll keep grinding. At a double figure price looks worth a few quid.
PRINCE OF WALES: 10:40
The Prince of Wales sees the return of SEA OF CLASS who was clearly the best horse in last years Arc but the race just went better for Enable, she had Magical well behind her that day who similarly was too far back off the steady pace. Magical has had 5 runs since then and has fired every time but if Sea of Class comes back in near her Arc form she’s going to be tough to beat and I trust Wiliam Haggas to get her here in shape. She’s not certain to handle the softer than expected ground but the price will reflect that.
Crystal Ocean has a bit to find but never rule out Sir Michael Stoute finding some more improvement and Waldgeist has run some really big figures at Longchamp he’s just never done it elsewhere. Tactics will be interesting here with Hunting Horn being the obvious speed , he went off very fast in the US last time but I expect him to set a steady pace here with Magical on his tail.
WINDSOR CASTLE: 12:35 ET
Wesley Ward has won the Windsor Castle twice from 10 tries including a 33/1 winner in Strike The Tiger. It’s hard to get excited about his contenders this year though and I’m taking a shot with SYMBOLIZE who I thought was really impressive on debut quickening up well to win in a fast time with a nice closing sectional, the 3rd from that came out and won 5 lengths earlier in the week, he will do for me.
