Thursday, September 27, 2007

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes run over a mile at Ascot this Saturday looks a thrilling prospect. Some of the value has been taken out of the market with the withdrawal of George Washington on Wednesday morning. There doesn't appear to be much between Darjina, Ramonti and Excellent Art. I'm inclined to oppose the filly Darjina on the following counts: only one filly has won this in the last thirty years; rain is forecast and this may inconvenience her; she is ante-post favourite and so the value lies elsewhere. Ramonti is tough and won over course and distance at Royal Ascot in June. He then went on to beat Excellent Art a fast diminishing head in The Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. After that race several commentators felt that Ramonti's getting first run had made the difference. Goodwood is tricky; with Ascot more likely to suit, I take Excellent Art to win the prize.

Those of us waiting eagerly for jump racing to swing into gear will see Saturday's card at Market Rasen as a sign of better things to come. Nigel Twiston Davies is regularly out of the blocks quickly around this time of year; he retuns this evening from Perth's two day fixture with a haul of five winners. If you fancy one of his over the next three to four weeks the yard's website may give a clue under the 'Todays Runners' section.

I'll try to look at the Market Rasen card tomorrow evening.

1 comment:

GeeDee said...

Well, Dettori made sure Ramonti (5/1) got first run, as in The Sussex, and the result was the same; Ramonti was half a length in front of 15/8 favourite Excellent Art at the line. Jamie Spencer appeared to encounter some traffic problems on the favourite but there can be no real excuses - I think the best horse won the races. 5/1 looked a big price at the off and it looks even bigger now.