Rest of Royal Ascot

The card traditionally ends with the Queen Alexandra Stakes over 2 3/4 miles at 18.35 CET, the longest flat race in Britain and Ireland, which usually goes to a plodder, frequently one that had been running over jumps in the winter. However a certain amount of ability is also necessary, and last year´s winner Simenon went on to run a close second in the Gold Cup this week. Runner-up a year ago was French raider Shahwardi (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Frankie Dettori), who has been running respectably in decent French staying races, and if he can repeat his 2012 form, he should win this. There are 19 runners, but the only possible dangers we can see are Chiberta King (Andrew Balding/ Jimmy Fortune), not far off listed class and a winning hurdler, and Junior (David Pipe/ Ryan Moore), a good staying chaser who also ran in the Irish Grand National. After that, he will think this race is a piece of cake, but Shahwardi has to be the selection.

The Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at 16.05 is the main supporting feature, but the field this year looks a bit substandard. Noble Mission (Lady Cecil/ Tom Queally) is Frankel´s brother, but not nearly as good and probably not up to Group Two standard. Sir Michael Stoute has a good record here, but his Sir John Hawkwood (Ryan Moore) is moving up sharply in grade after winning two handicaps and needs to show huge improvement. Universal (Mark Johnston/ Joe Fanning) is improved and just holds Dandino (Marco Botti/ Dettori) on their latest running, but we cannot believe that is good enough. Our two hopes are are the lightly-raced Ektihaam (Roger Varian/ Paul Hanagan), an easy listed winner over this CD last time and one of the few who are not exposed here, and especially Mount Athos (Luca Cumani/ Jamie Spencer), a very tough and genuine performer, who finished fifth in last year´s Melbourne Cup after a rough passage. That race is no doubt his target again, and this trip is possibly o n the short side, but he is top-rated here and we think he can win.

The handicaps are as tough as ever, especially the Wokingham Stakes over 6 furlongs at 17.25. 28 runners, most of whom have met before, and the effects of the draw - if any- still unclear. This race is almost group class, so we shall stick to the two recent group race winners, the top-weights Hitchens (David Barron/ Johnny Murtagh) - won at the Curragh last time- and Arnold Lane (Mick Channon/ Martin Harley), who won here at Munich. Neither is especially well handicapped, but one can make a case for almost any of the others as well. Royal Rock (Chris Wall/ George Baker) won a group race over this CD in 2011 and belongs on every short list. The 1 1/2 mile handicap at 18.00 is another puzzle. John Hammond sent over Hammerfest (Jim Crowley) to run second here last year, but he is now higher in the weights and badly drawn; however he should get involved, and so can Rye House (Stoute/ Moore), Caravan Rolls On (Peter Chapple-Hyam/ Spencer) and Ustura (Saeed bin Suroor/ Silvestre de Sousa).

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Bunker - Somewhat - Friendship
2. Race: Mount Athos - Ektihaam - Universal
3. Race: Society Rock - Gordon Lord Byron - Sea Siren
4. Race: Duke Of Firenze - Gabriel`s Lad - Rex Imperator
5. Race: Rye House - Ustura - Lahaag
6. Race: Shahwardi - Chiberta King - No Heretic