Fox Champion
ROYAL ASCOT – WEDNESDAY
1:15 Silver Royal Hunt Cup
Brian Epstein (Pat Dobbs)
As I said in yesterday’s blog, he’s a horse who has a lot of ability and there’s definitely a decent race in him. I was pleased with his first run at Haydock as that will have put him spot on for this and he’s been in very good form at home. The ground shouldn’t be an issue as he’s pretty versatile and I think he has an excellent chance.
Ouzo (Ryan Moore)
He ran a stormer on his first run back but just lost out in the dying strides. There should still be some improvement fitness wise as he had a really good blow afterwards and he copes with any type of ground so I’m not worried on that score. He’s drawn in the car park in stall 24 which is an obvious question mark but I really couldn’t be happier with him and under Ryan Moore, he’s close to the top of the market for a reason.
3:35 Royal Hunt Cup
Fox Power (Pat Dobbs)
We fancied him to run a huge race on debut at Goodwood last August but he didn’t really handle the track and ran quite green which meant it took him a few runs for the penny to finally drop, but he’s developed into a smart colt and is very consistent. This is obviously a very tough race and he has to step up but his work has been good and hopefully he can run into a place if getting some luck.
Qaysar (Ryan Moore)
I have a lot of time for this horse as he just kept improving and improving last year and ran an excellent race on his comeback at Newmarket. That run will really have sharpened him up and he’s won twice at a mile so I’m not at all worried about the trip and a fast pace will help his chances, too. There doesn’t seem to be a chink in his armour as he’s tough, consistent, goes on any ground and has a touch of class.
Fox Champion (Sean Levey)
He could be the dark horse in the race as he badly needed his first run at Haydock and it wasn’t long ago he was mixing it in Group Ones with the likes of Circus Maximus and Too Darn Hot and he steps into Handicap company for the first time – albeit one of the most competitive handicaps of the season! But he is in very good form at home and while I’m not saying he’s win material, he is better than his last couple of runs and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see him run a mighty race at very big odds with Unibet.
4:40 Handicap
Floating Artist (Pat Dobbs)
The main objective at Newmarket was for Dobbsy to get him to relax and drop bridle which he was able to do and hopefully with that run under his belt, he’ll strip much fitter here and can finish his race well. We’re going up even further in trip but he’s still extremely unexposed and I’m not surprised to learn that Unibet report plenty of support form him because as long as the ground isn’t really soft/heavy I can make a very good case for him. He won a handicap here off 100 last season and I think he’s improved a fair bit over the winter.
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