Royal Ascot: rest of Ladies Day

as always, the undercard at Royal Ascot is also very strong, and the first race, the Norfolk Stakes for 2yo´s over 5 furlongs, has some of the speediest juveniles so far seen out in the line-up. The only maiden in the field is To Be Determined (Wesley Ward/ Victor Espinoza), also the only filly, but she must not be underestimated; Ward´s 2yo´s are running well, and he won the race last year. However the one to beat has to be The Great War (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) who has won both his starts in impressive style and has a tremendous reputation.
The other 4 races are all restricted to 3yo´s and the Ribblesdale Stakes is for fillies over 1 1/2 miles at 16.45. Inchila (Peter Chapple-Hyam/ Jamie Spencer) should win this; she was fourth in the Oaks after a bad run and should have been runner-up; however that was only 13 days ago, and this quick reappearance may not be ideal. If she is to be beaten, the most likely candidate otherwise is the French-trained Vazira (Alain de Royer-Dupre/ Christophe Soumillon), runner-up last time in the Prox Saint-Alary.
The Tercentary Stakes over 10 furlongs at 16.05 is another strong race, although with only 8 runners it has the smallest field of the day. Barley Mow (Richard Hannon/ Hughes) made all to beat several of these at Newmarket on Guineas Day but this form looks a bit dodgy to us. Cannock Chase (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) has won both his starts this season in excellent style and is an own brother to 2011 winner Pisco Sour. He will start favourite and has an obvious chance, but at the likely odds we like the unbeaten Spark Plug (Brian Meehan/ Jimmy Fortune) who is undefeated and looks a great each-way bet.
The handicaps are as difficult as ever, i.e. virtually impossible, but for the record our hopes here are Bilimbi (William Haggas/ Andrea Atzeni) at 18.00 and Elite Army (Saeed bin Suroor/ Kieren Fallon) at 18.35.