Wednesday, 1st July 2026
In ATC today….
Ascot is the stiffest major track in Britain and favours closers….
…. pace setters in the straight handicaps at the Royal meeting were up against it….
…. but one or two produced efforts that are worth noting….
Oh…. and check out this week’s target races….
Read on….
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I know it was Newcastle at the weekend….
…. I’ve got a couple of observations to bring you about the action we saw there – which I’ll get to tomorrow….
…. but before that I want to return to Royal Ascot – a big chunk of red meat that takes some digesting – and highlight a couple of handicappers of interest moving forward….
Ascot is not only the stiffest of the major tracks in Britain….
…. it’s also one of the few that doesn’t favour front runners….
It’s very difficult to make all on the straight track….
…. in the handicaps earlier this month only US raider Bacio managed to win a race doing all the donkey work from the front….
He scooted home in the Palace of Holyroodhouse – winning by almost 4-lengths and revealing himself to be a potential G1 horse in the process….
He clearly had loads in hand on the rest running off a mark of 100 and could probably have won just as easily from the back – giving the rest a head start….
…. and – not to knock him – he probably represents an exceptional case – an anomaly….
Moonfall deserves a mention in dispatches….
…. winning the Britannia from a prominent early pitch – sticking on well at the end to foil a fast-finishing Outback Heat (who’d come all the way from the back of the field in the last quarter-mile) by 0.75 lengths….
But across the rest of the straight-course handicaps it was the closers that once again had the best of it….
…. with the pace horses setting races up before being overhauled at some point on the stiff finish – a typical scenario on the Ascot straight….
Many such pace horses fell away completely – going backwards at a rate of knots once headed (and then swamped) by horses ridden colder in the early stages of the race….
…. but the ones that didn’t fold…. the ones that finished off well despite having set – or helped to set – the strong early fractions….
…. those horses are of interest going forward….
…. because they swam with great credit against a prevailing tide….
…. and their performances could well be misunderstood and under-estimated as we head into the second half of the season….
Richard Hannon’s River King, for instance….
He was very quick out of the stalls for the Buckingham Palace under Pat Dobbs – making an immediate beeline for the stands side rail….
The majority of the field went that way, and River King did the donkey work on that side until deep into the last quarter-mile – when he got tired (understandably) and headed by Elarak….
…. but he didn’t crack, he stuck to his task and he hit the frame – finishing 5/28….
On a track where the big-field races often go to the last horse to make its challenge….
…. I thought River King ran a belter trying to do everything the wrong way round and attempting to win his race from the front….
Add to that the fact that he started closer to the far side than all the horses that eventually beat him home….
…. and that he was taking a massive step up in class from anything he’d encountered before….
…. and there’s an obvious case for marking his performance up….
It was just his eighth start under rules….
…. and there’s almost certainly a decent pot to be won with him off a mark of 95
…. most likely on a track where his free-wheeling style from the front end will be better accommodated – over the mile or a stiff 7f….
He’s going on to my Watch List….
So too Scoville – trained by William Haggas….
…. who ran with great credit in the Royal Hunt Cup….
He blazed the trail over on the far side of the track where the bulk of the field raced (the bias on the stands side had not fully expressed itself at that point of the meeting)….
…. and he was still at the head of that group at the furlong pole – albeit starting to tire with horses from behind making their move forward….
He ended up finishing 3/20 in that far side group (7th in the race overall) and he’s probably far enough down the finishing order to escape the post-race attentions of some analysts….
…. but I thought he did exceptionally well to finish where he did – given his race tactics under Tom Marquand….
It was his first go since having a wind operation in April….
…. his first go in a handicap – a proper baptism of fire….
…. and his first go up a straight mile since making a name for himself as a novice at Newmarket as a 3yo back in July last year….
He lost his way a bit after that….
…. but the wind procedure – with the tongue tie back on at Ascot – appears to have done the trick (he’s also been gelded)….
…. and his against-the-tide showing at Ascot signals that he’s ready to mix it again off a mark of 98 – and that he’s capable of winning a nice pot….
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That’s all for today….
Back tomorrow….
Meantime – check out this week’s target races….
Contact me direct at – nick.pullen@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
Stay tuned….
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