Ascot 3.40 Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes

 

A competitive all age race and one in which the perceived low draw bias on the round course has not really been proven this week with scope for prominent runners drawn low having as good a chance as those coming wide into the straight who can get a clear run further out.

 

A number of these are in good form but as a result the handicapper may just have blunted their chances. Mashoor and Contact specifically have good chances on current form but I feel that the handicapper may just now hold sway. At the very top of the market both Trawlerman and Just Fine look very solid if not exciting price wise and I'm happy to look for better value whilst Candleford is very unexposed and could be anything.

 

There have been a few shock results on the Round Course and I'm interested in a few at bigger prices.

 

Stay Well comes from a Yard who targets the race and paradoxically my only concern is whetherthe stamina is quite there, I can just see this one being touched off close to the line. State Of Bliss and Long bourn at bigger odds both have bits of form that made them of interest and we tipped CAP FRANCAIS at Epsom a fortnight ago on the basis of a promising and unlucky run at Chester. It just didn't handle the Course there but the promise remains and I'll have a shrapnel bet on him today as he is more capable than yet fully shown.

 

The pair i most like are SIR RUMI for Richard Hannon and Rossa Ryan, it's on a static mark and is pretty consistent and has been running prominently and just fading over further, the drop in trip off a likely fast pace negates a draw in Stall 17 and it's one I think can be run slightly off the fence until they turn in and then come with a withering sustained run out wider. BRILLIANT LIGHT for Saeed Bin Suroor and the in form Danny Tudhope has a similar sort of profile and is drawn in Stall 4. If it can just sit off the pace not too far back and wait for the gaps up the rail I can see him finishing well too as all too often if you wait for the gap on that rail it does come.