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Royal Ascot
2.30 1 pt – 8 Facteur Cheval 10/3
On QEII form, Big Rock stands out a long way in the Queen Anne, his wide-margin success that day backed up by a monster timefigure. The trouble is, of course, that came on soft ground, and although he’d got closest to Ace Impact in the French Derby on much firmer ground, he seems particularly effective on soft. What’s more, he’s changed yards since last year and ran a pretty lifeless race in the Lockinge last month. Of the 2 ahead of him in the betting, fellow French raider Facteur Cheval is far more compelling. A rather distant second in that QEII – indeed he didn’t win at all last year – he’s since come out and put that right already this year, improving his form when winning the Dubai Turf at Meydan, showing a good attitude to fend off the Japanese horse Namur. He’s a strong traveller and a well-run Queen Anne on summer ground ought to be right up his street, while his draw in the middle of the pack is surely no bad thing, either.
3.05 0.5 pt ew – 18 Symbol of Honour 16/1
The Coventry really does looks exceptionally wide open and there are cases to make for plenty. The each-way terms on offer are sufficiently generous to encourage an each-way bet and, among the bigger-priced runners, Symbol of Honour looks interesting. He’s the apparent Charlie Appleby second string judged on jockey bookings, but his form looks in advance of Al Qudra’s and there’s a chance he’s been underestimated following a win on the turf at Lingfield last time. He was much improved from his debut to demolish his rivals that day, in a fast time to boot, and the subsequent wins of the second and fifth suggest real substance to the form. There’s certainly a lot to recommend him on pedigree as a half-brother to Dragon Symbol, who was famously demoted from first in the Commonwealth Cup a few years ago, and while it’s hard to know whether stall 20 will prove a disadvantage, he’s a sufficiently big price to get involved.
3.45 1 pt – 4 Kerdos 10/1
The King Charles III is tough, lacking as it sometimes has a standout form candidate. Indeed, there’s hardly anything to separate the leading few contenders on Timeform ratings, but the one the figures say is overpriced is the Temple Stakes winner Kerdos. There was no fluke at all about that win, which came in a fast time and at the expense of a few of these rivals, and he won’t need to put much more improvement on top of it to follow up at the top level. A furiously-run race, as this promises to be, should suit ideally considering Kerdos tends to come from mid-field or further back, and it’s well worth remembering that he ran an absolute belter when a close second in the five-furlong handicap at this meeting last year on his sole visit to Ascot.
4.25 1 pt – 6 Notable Speech 11/10
It’s hard to argue that Notable Speech should necessarily be much shorter than the general 11/10 that’s available on Monday afternoon, but at the same time he was so good when winning the Guineas that we’re loathe to take him on. A possible lack of early pace is maybe one reason that others will be tempted to try and get him beaten, but it’s not as if Notable Speech has shown himself to be in any way headstrong so far and we know he’s got a terrific turn of foot should things get tactical in any case, Buick also very rarely found wanting when jockeyship is required to make things happen.
5.05 1 pt ew – 15 Temporize 20/1
It’s easy to understand why Zanndabad has been the subject of sustained support in recent days, shaping best when third to Zoffee in the Chester Cup last time out and, despite his age, still an unknown quantity over long distances. His price has contracted to such an extent, however, that it’s now relatively easy to pass him over. The next two in the betting My Lyka (a promising close second on his hurdling debut/first start for Willie Mullins last month) and Pied Piper (only sixth in this from a 4 lb lower mark two years ago) are also rather unappealing at the prices, whereas Temporize has enough going for him at 20/1 and bigger for him to be an each-way suggestion. Temprize has done well since joining Syd Hosie from Charlie Johnston last summer, winning over this trip at the Glorious Goodwood meeting and recording several other good placed efforts to boot. One of those was on his reappearance back at Goodwood last month, splitting the race-fit pair Pledgeofallegiance and Manxman over 2m.
5.40 1 pt – 8 Haunted Dream 14/1
The market certainly seems to have focused on the right trio in the Wolferton, but it’s arguable that there’s too big a gap back to the rest and Haunted Dream looks overpriced at 14/1 or 12/1 on Monday afternoon. He held his form so well in the top middle-distance handicaps last year when trained by Ed Dunlop and that appears to have been the case too when going out to Qatar in the winter, but it’s his most recent run back in Britain on Oaks day at Epsom that makes him particularly interesting. He did well to get competitive at all given he knuckled badly coming out of the stalls, let alone lay down a strong challenge to the winner in the straight. This is a step up in grade, into a very strong listed race, but the early signs from that Epsom handicap are very positive, a clean start this time should see him nicely positioned from stall 4 and Soumillon is a good booking with Wathnan first jockey Doyle on the recently-purchased Torito – the Belgian’s only ride at the Royal meeting since 2019 came when winning the Commonwealth Cup on Perfect Power in 2022.
6.15 1 pt – 8 Belloccio 100/30
When Belloccio was trained by David Menuisier he was a smart performer at up to 1½m whose form was better on all-weather than turf. As such, it’d have been fairly easy to stick a line through him for this even allowing for that fact. Only he’s now trained by Willie Mullins and was a strikingly easy winner of a maiden at Punchestown on his hurdling debut last month, strongly suggesting that a rethink is necessary of what Belloccio might be capable of and under what conditions. After all, Mullins completely dominated this race twelve months ago with Vauban and Absurde (who’d also made a winning hurdling debut the previous month) and has such a wealth of talent in his yard that he’s able to pick and choose which ones he sends for the Royal Ascot staying races. The fact that Belloccio is one of only five Mullins’ entries in the Irish St Leger is indicative of a horse that’s considered better than a handicapper on his homework and, when everything is taken into account, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that he really does have an awful lot going for him.