Golden Jubilee at Royal Ascot

Another sensational afternoon´s racing at Royal Ascot on the final day of the meeting, with the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes over 6 furlongs at 16.50 CET as the highlight. Rarely has such a strong field been assembled, with runners from all over the world. Very difficult indeed for punters, who have weigh up form lines from Hong Kong and Meydan, as well as from closer to home, and even from Hoppegarten, where German-bred Amico Fritz (Henri-Alex Pantall/ Maxime Guyon) set a new course record earlier in the month. Much as we would like him to score, we fear that he will be outclassed here, and his inside draw is also a disadvantage - results so far this week show that the far side has a clear advantage.

Bookies go 7-1 the field, which in a group race is really unusual, but sums up the nature of this race. Another one badly drawn (we think) is the ex-Australian Starspangledbanner (Aidan O´Brien/ Johnny Murtagh), but with the stable back in form, he cannot be altogether discarded. Joy and Fun (Derek Cruz/ Brett Doyle) won on Dubai World Cup Day at Meydan from Fravashi (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori), with German-owned Goldene Peitsche winner War Artist (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Olivier Peslier) 4th, and all 3 are possibles, but U.S. -trained Kinsale King (Carl O´Callaghan/ Kieren Fallon) probably put up the better performance when winning the Golden Shaheen that day. Happy Zero (John Moore/ Darren Beadman) is another HK raider and must also be respected.
Best of the locals could be Main Aim (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore), the 3yo Showcasing (John Gosden/ William Buick) and the 5yo mare Fleeting Spirit (Jeremy Noseda/ Richard Hughes). The last-named likes this track, runs her best races when fresh and is our tentative suggestion.