Day Three Royal Ascot Preview - 18/02/19

We start day three at Royal Ascot in the Golden Gate Handicap and Hypothetical for the inform John Gosden looks the form chance in the race.

The three year old seems to have been given a fair opening mark for his handicap debut here having shown plenty of ability on both of his starts.

The colt bolted up on debut back in December at Chelmsford in a decent novice contest and on his second start at the start of June he finished a nice fourth in the Group Three Classic Trial at Kempton and should come on for that run in this field.

The Listed Wolferton Stakes sees a stellar field of runner go to post and we have two selections at nice prices starting with Fox Tal for Andrew Balding.

The four year old colt was last seen finishing a bold fourth in the Champion Stakes over course and distance and returning in this weaker contest should see him dominate.

Before his fourth he landed a Conditions Stakes at Doncaster which was nice form and with the Andrew Balding yard being in flying form he is hard to look past.

Our other selection comes at a much bigger price and Aloe Vera for Ralph Beckett could turn out to be anything and is worth an each way punt at the price.

She is the only runner that enters the contest being unbeaten having landed both of his races to date as a three year old and if overcoming a tricky draw should do well.

At Chepstow in May she made her debut and got off the mark in good style, she then went to Goodwood and landed a Listed event that looks decent form entering this one.

The first Group contest of the afternoon is the Jersey Stakes over seven furlongs and the French raider Celestin for trainer Fabrice Chappet should go very well.

The colt Looks to be a very progressive three year old running twice this season, firstly at Chantilly on good to soft finishing second in a conditions race and then finishing a decent fourth in the Group One French 2000 Guineas.

Now dropping down to a Group Three he can make his black type experience tell and having ran twice on good to soft ground he should be one of the fittest horses in the field.

One at a bigger price and advised as an each way bet is the Kevin Ryan trained Repartee who was very useful as a juvenile and if finding that form can cause an upset.

The three year old had all four starts as a youngster and on debut at York bolted up, since then he has placed in big fielded races.

He should mature for being a year older and having shown how well he goes fresh he might be worth a punt at a big price.

Drying ground would be a positive for this horse.

The Listed Chesham Stakes is a race you want to keep an eye on having thrown out the superstar Pinatubo who won it last year and our selection this season is Golden Flame for Mark Johnston.

The two year old will be ridden by Frankie Dettori and having shown bundles of ability on debut when finishing a clear second at Haydock he could be an interesting runner.

The son of Golden Horn has a stellar pedigree and showed he is a gritty character when being headed and rallying back and he will need all of that experience in this one.

The feature race of the day is the Gold Cup over a marathon distance and this race is all about once horse looking to land a hat-trick of wins in the event.

Stradivarius has been the poster boy for the UK staying division for the last three seasons landing 10 races in a row including winning a Weatherbys-sponsored £1million bonus in the last two seasons after landing the Yorkshire Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Lonsdale Cup at York.

The six year old lost his unbeaten record, that stretched back to May 2018, when being pipped in a photo finish on Champions Day at Ascot in the Long Distance Cup by the Aidan O'Brien trained Kew Gardens.

With a weak field to contend with he will never have a better chance to land his third win in the race and having ran to a fair standard in the Coronation Cup, the prep run would have done him the world of good.

The Britannia Stakes is another of those big fielded handicaps that can be a minefield but we have some decent fancies for the race.

The first is Simon and Ed Crisford trained Finest Sound who had Three third placed finishes as a two year old, finishing behind some impressive sorts and he then went on to break his maiden bolting up at Haydock last week on handicap debut.

If he puts in a similar run here he’ll be hard to beat under a penalty but his mightily impressive on his handicap debut last week.

At a bigger price Amaysmont has faced many of these rivals already prior to this race and was unlucky when making a late charge on seasonal reappearance at Lingfield earlier this month.

A clear run and and an extra furlong should see him knock on the door of at least a place finish having shown his winning form as a two year old, when a clearcut winner on debut at Carlisle.

The final selection on day three is the Roger Varian trained Waliyak who broke her maiden tag at the third time of asking in November at Wolverhampton.

Before that she had two prior starts and finished a decent second both times at Newmarket in tricky conditions so will not mind the wet surface.

Looks a very exciting and unexposed runner for a thriving yard this season and he should build on that winning run to have a big each way chance.