Royal Ascot Day 5

We had a good afternoon at Market Rasen with Adams Park & Ilovemints, two solid 3^rd placed efforts. Adams Park ran well on his hurdling debut, he was a bit green and will need further but showed plenty of promise. Ilovemints put in a much better round of jumping and was perhaps unlucky to bump into two, well handicapped horses over hurdles. Both the 1^st & 2nd won on the flat a few weeks ago.

We’ve had three third places this week and a runner at Royal Ascot.

It’s the final day of Royal Ascot, dare I say it could be a favourites afternoon? It likely won’t turn out like that but on paper but I like four horses.

The Hardwicke stakes at 3:05 should see Crystal Ocean win and complete a great week for Sir Michael Stoute. It's not often Ryan Moore rides anything against Coolmore, this is a big tip in it's self. Crystal Ocean is priced at 4-7, that's a very fair price if you don't mind backing odds on shots.

Merchant Navy runs in the Diomond Jubilee Stakes at 4:20, reports suggest he hadn't done much work before winning on debut for Aidan O’Brien. He's got a bit to find with Redkirk Warrior based on the run at Flemington but was given a lot to do. I’m not sure what the stats are on a 3yo winning this race, but odds of 4-1 look fair with improvement expected. I would love to see an English horse win, but Harry Angel hasn’t been at his best in previous Ascot runs. The Tin Man should go well at a price but I’ll side with Merchant Navy.

The Wokingham stakes at 5:00 is a cavalry charge and will take some winning. I think and have been told, Dreamfield is considered a Group horse. Priced at 3-1 that’s silly odds for such a race but he might just take the field apart and be better than this grade.

The final race at Royal Ascot is the Queen Alexandra stakes at 5:35. I must be with Thomas Hobson, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ryan Moore. Thomas Hobson missed the Gold Cup to run in this. He’s the best horse in the field on ratings and ran a cracker in the Melbourne Cup when last seen. He should take the beating, odds of 6-4 look fair.