Royal Ascot tips: A 9/1 shout tops Paul Jacobs' ante-post plays

Paul Jacobs’ Royal Ascot tips:

Thursday, June 22: Ascot Gold Cup – Coltrane
Friday, June 23: Commonwealth Cup – Lezoo (each way)

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Ascot Gold Cup – Coltrane

Thursday, June 22nd

We’re closing in on Royal Ascot 2023 and I’ve got a couple of antepost picks in mind. First up is the Ascot Gold Cup. The roll of honour for this 2m 4f feature is littered with multiple gold medallists, but you rarely get a lung buster regaining his championship.

If he is back to his best then it is not hard to see the 2021 hero Subjectivist grabbing back his crown following a fine third in the Dubai Gold Cup behind Broome. The extra half mile can only benefit him and he has reportedly come out of that contest in great fashion. In the absence of the brilliant Kyprios, COLTRANE has to be the right favourite based on his still progressive form and his cracking record at Ascot.

Although a couple of his rivals ran below form in the Sagaro Stakes, the six-year-old was hugely impressive in trouncing Wise Eagle taking his form figures at the Berkshire track to 1-2-1.

St Leger winner, Edgar Eldarov, ran a lovely warm up for this when a never nearer second in the Yorkshire Cup and will strip much fitter (looked big in the parade ring that afternoon). However, I am not so sure that this extended trip is what he is crying out for and I much prefer the third home that day, Broome.

Ryan Moore’s mount got himself in a state down at the start, on his toes and sweating, and simply wasn’t suited by just a moderate gallop set by the normally tearaway front runner Quickstep. When the pace finally quickened, the son of Australia was badly outpaced, but to his credit he stayed on, albeit at just the one pace, all the way to the line to be beaten just a length and a half. A double-figure price may tempt me to have a saver on him.

Of the remainder, Emily Dickinson has to bounce back following a flat run in the Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown, while recent Aston Park Stakes winner, Haskay, has about 8lbs to find with the leading players here, but should go some way to bridging that gap with only seven career starts under her belt.

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Commonwealth Cup – Lezoo

Friday, June 23rd

Apart from the handicaps, this has the look of one of the most open races of the five days. Noble Style looked very awkward in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury, but Sakheer comes from the same base camp as the Godolphin charge, having also looked a non stayer in the 2,000 Guineas. He was working the house down prior to the Newmarket Classic and made up ground in eye-catching fashion into the dip before his stamina ebbed away on the gluey ground.

He is probably the pick of the market leaders with Little Big Bear running like a drain in the same race (excuses given being struck into). He looked a bit dull that day, but is a lovely stamp of a three-year-old and if O’Brien does run him here in preference to the St James’s Palace Stakes, then the hint should be taken.

Cold Case, five lengths behind Noble Style in the Gimcrack Stakes at York last year, continues to make small steps forward and completed a hat-trick with a smooth front running win in the Commonwealth Stakes Trial over the course and distance.

But at the current prices, I can’t pass up an each-way bet on the filly LEZOO. Like the two colts mentioned in the 2,000 Guineas, she too was a non stayer in the 1,000 version, lasting that little bit longer than the boys in the Rowley Mile.

She made eye catching headway from three furlongs out to about 300 yards to the winning line and has the high cruising speed needed to be a force in this contest. I think there is every chance that the girls from the Classic generation may well turn out to be better than the boys and this daughter of Zoustar looks every inch a sprinter in the making.