Royal Ascot continues on Friday night Australian time, headlined by the Group 1 Coronation Stakes (1603m). As always, Adam Page brings you his best bets for the card below, and you can head over to head over to our Racing Tips page for more free tips!
Royal Ascot Racing Tips: Friday June 21 2024
Race 1: Albany Stakes 1207m – 11.30pm AEST
When doing the form for this race, I was expecting (11) Mountain Breeze to be a short-priced favourite, so I am surprised she is second favourite. I think she’s the best on the card. Unbeaten in two career outings for Charlie Appleby, both at Newmarket and each time she has been quite dynamic the way she has put the race to bed. Good test here, but she could be an absolute jet and I think she’ll love 1200m at Ascot.
The favourite currently is (5) Fairy Godmother, and easy to see why she is popular with the market given her last start win at Naas was sharp. Was just off the speed and moving with purpose before angling wider into clear air under Ryan Moore and gee she let down like a good horse to win and win well. Hard to beat…just feel she is a tad on the short side.
The value could be (6) Heavens Gate, who is a stablemate of Fairy Godmother. Not sure she beat much at Curragh last time but she looked a good prospect, the way she put them away and produced change up speed under Ryan Moore to gap her rivals. He elects to stick with Fairy Godmother, but that shouldn’t discount the chances of this girl.
(11) Mountain Breeze
$3.70 (5 Units)
Race 2: Commonwealth Cup 1207m – 12.05am Saturday AEST
Similar to the opening race, I think the market is wrong and am surprised that (1) Elite Status isn’t top seed in the market. He was an arrogant first up winner at Haydock, leading throughout and the way he went through his gears suggests he has come back in outstanding. Didn’t quite measure up at Group l level as a juvenile but now three, off that, confident he can measure up here and prove hard to get past.
(4) Inisherin is a deserving favourite given he has the runs on the board. Led and stuck on well enough I thought in defeat in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, just failing to see out the mile. He then came back to 1200m at Haydock where he made a mess of them from the front and was quite sharp. Now as a sprinter, he could be dynamic.
(9) Malc ran fourth behind Elite Status in the race mentioned above. He had better ground towards the outside fence and for a few strides, looked to be moving with purpose, but when asked for the effort, the wheels just couldn’t spin properly and he whacked to the line when fourth. Better for the run…I doubt he wins, but can run top four.
(1) Elite Status
$6.00 (2 Units)
Race 3: Coronation Stakes 1603m – 12.45am Saturday AEST
She is short enough at the moment but I do think (5) Opera Singer can bounce back. She resumed in the Irish 1000 Guineas where she was just off the speed throughout and seemingly moved well but when asked for the big effort, she just seemed to struggle on the soft track and barely held on for third. I think a firmer deck is perfect for her and the stable wouldn’t persist if she wasn’t going any good.
(3) Elmalka is the 1000 Guineas winner from Newmarket and has to be respected. I loved the way she dug in to win. 300m out, it looked as if she would run a solid third or fourth but she really dug in late under De Sousa and surged late to win. Was it a deep edition? I am saying no, but the same could be said about this race.
If the 1000 Guineas form, both England and Ireland, is rubbish, then (2) Devoted Queen could be the filly. 3/3 for Charlie Appleby and has dodged the better fillies by just going through her grades, the latest win being quite impressive over the mile at York where she moved with purpose late and was strong the line. Clearly a harder assignment here, but think she can measure up.
(5) Opera Singer
$2.60 (3 Units)
