Best bets for the horse racing this weekend including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
The weather suggests we could have thunderstorms by the time the horse racing gets underway on Saturday and if we do it could play havoc with the ground. I am playing safe and not getting overly involved this weekend, in fact just two bets, experience tells me if we get the weather the formbook will be out the window!
Best bets for the horse racing Saturday
I want to be having a bet in the first at Ascot the 1.15 7f Listed Pat Eddery Stakes. I have tipped New Science on both starts to date, winning on debut at Yarmouth on softish ground and then when ninth in the Listed Chesham Stakes at the Royal Meeting. That run over track and trip was on soft (heavy in places) so any real downpours early won’t help his chances judging him by that run, he faded out of it pretty quick. I want to back him, but with the forecast rain I haven’t; if it doesn't chuck it down I will get on before the race.
I mentioned Modern Games earlier this week and that he had multiple entries, well the one the colt takes up is the 3.05 at Newmarket the 7f MansionBet Proud To Support British Racing British EBF Maiden Stakes. I said when I tipped him on debut at Haydock this month he is a very nicely bred chestnut colt by Dubawi out of Modern Ideals and a half-brother to a couple of winners. He never quite got going that day but will surely have benefited for the experience. Breeding suggests softish ground wouldn’t be a major problem and I have taken a chance as the forecast suggests HQ will miss the worst of the rain. I have the 7-2 overnight.
Won for the last couple of years by Enable (she also won in 2017) the Group One 1m4f King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is still one of the summer highlights of the racing game. It is Britain's most prestigious open-age flat race, and its roll of honour features some of the biggest names to have set hoof on turf. Nijinksy, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar, Nashwan, Swain, Galileo the list goes on............... This year we have six runners after Addeybb, Japan and Mogul were not declared and all eyes will be on Ascot a t 3.35. Mishriff has his second outing over a mile-and-a-half after connections decided against an alternative option at York. He won the G.1 Dubai Sheema Classic over the trip earlier this year but was beaten fair and square in the G.1 Coral-Eclipse and I am still not convinced he is absolute top-drawer material. Irish Derby runner-up Lone Eagle has to be considered, Frankie Dettori rides again, but I can’t help but think that race flattered him a little, Frankie tried to nick the race, and surely the others will keep a close eye on him here. Trainer Martyn Meade said on Friday "We can go on quick ground because we proved that at the Curragh, but I'd quite like to see a bit of rain to slow the others down." He may get his wish. Aidan O'Brien saddles two, one being Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Broome, who was second in the G.2 Hardwicke Stakes behind Wonderful Tonight at the Royal Meeting but the pair look likely to play a minor role here. I have gone back and forth between the market principles all week, a decision had to be made and it has been a hard one. Last year's 1,000 Guineas and Oaks winner Love, successful on her seasonal reappearance in the G.1 Prince of Wales's Stakes at the Royal meeting last month has obvious claims. She is a quality filly and would be a very strong fancy if it wasn’t for the 8lb she has to give to the three-year-old colts. If Adayar is as good as the Derby win suggests he might be she will be up against it, if that was a more a case of things falling right for the colt on the day then she should have too much for him. She won’t want the rain though surely, the one time she ran with soft in the going description she finished third in the G.1 Bet365 Fillies' Mile as a two-year-old. Cazoo Derby winner Adayar has the weight-for-age scale very much in his favour and I think softer going will definitely increase his chances with all his form on ground where he could get his toe-in. His win in the Derby certainly looked good and that form has been well franked since by his stablemate Hurricane Lane, my tip on the day when third, who has subsequently won both the Irish Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. Was that win all about what was a brilliant ride by Adam Kirby or is this colt really that good, and will the forecast rain arrive in time? Charlie Appleby said in the build-up “Like everybody else, we’ve got a huge watching brief on this. Everybody’s wanting to know how good the three-year-olds are, particularly at a mile and a half. We would like to see what we are dealing with, and I think the King George will provide the answers. Adayar is approaching his biggest challenge in tip-top condition and we are upbeat about the accepting the challenge. His prep has been faultless. We have seen him maturing week on week. I believe he is physically stronger than he was at Epsom. When you see him in the paddock on Saturday, he won’t look like a three-year-old against older horses. He looks like an older horse now,” I have plumped for the Derby winner at 9-4 overnight as the weight-for-age allowance and weather forecast are two big pluses to his chances I reckon.
Be lucky