Rory Delargy’s Royal Ascot Tips
14:30 Charyn
15:05 The Actor
15:45 Twilight Calls (each-way)
16:25 Notable Speech
17:05 Zanndabad
17:40 Checkandchallenge
18:15 My Mate Mozzie
*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.
14:30 Charyn
CHARYN is a deserving favourite. And it’s intriguing to see Audience, drawn in 14 of the 14, running. He’s very good on his day but he does want to race on his own and his best form has come when he’s been able to race in space.
I’d laid my cards out early for this race, I’ve stuck with Charyn even though his price has shortened up markedly since the markets opened. Fast ground is massively against Big Rock and that changes the look of the race completely. We know from last season that he’s an absolute monster on his day. He ran away with the QEII here last year but all his best form is on good or softer ground.
Charyn ran a cracker last time out when everyone ignored Audience who was the expected pace-setter but got away from the field. Charyn did lay down a challenge though and the quick ground won’t be an issue for him. His draw in stall nine is a solid place to start from.
15:05 The Actor
I’d hope that Camille Pisarro runs well. He’s running from stall number two. THE ACTOR for Richard Hannon is in stall four, he showed plenty of ability when making his debut at Newmarket, won in his following race and has had six weeks off to prepare for this.
What I like about The Actor is that for many running here they’ll have won on their second start and are used to running behind a leader. They won’t be faced with the same situation here. I’m always looking for something that’s able to sit off the pace and run through them and The Actor fits that bill nicely.
15:45 Twilight Calls (each-way)
This race is always open to an exceptional three-year-old and Big Evs has progressed since last season. He’s been an absolute beast so far, just having the one ‘off day’ in his career so far. He’s proven over the same course and distance as well. He very much deserves to be at the top of the market.
However, I decided quite a while ago to side with TWILIGHT CALLS. He’s maybe a horse who hasn’t quite delivered what he’d promised as he’s been a little frustrating over the last season or two but I saw Henry Candy interviewed about him recently where he said that he’d never had the horse so well even though he wasn’t fully fit. This was at his last outing at Newmarket.
He’s had his issues but he seems to be over those now. He came fourth of 17 here last year. He ran well at Newmarket even though looked somewhat rusty but he rattled home in second on a good return. He’ll run a solid race and given that he was fourth last year and Paddy Power are paying out on four places, I’d happy to back him each-way.
16:25 Notable Speech
Rosallion is going to sit off them and he’s going to need a bit of luck in the running from stall one to come through. I suspect that NOTABLE SPEECH is going to have better track position and that would swing me towards him as the likely winner.
Henry Longfellow is interesting but I wonder how much the ground will affect him as he runs best on good to soft. I don’t think Notable Speech will have any issues with the quicker ground that’s forecast.
17:05 Zanndabad
The Irish raider ZANNDABAD is the obvious one and it’ll shake things up is he wins this. He’s very much caught the eye. He ran a big, big race on similar ground in the Chester Cup last time out, he stayed on really well.
The start of this race comes reasonably close to the bend and when the ground is soft I wouldn’t be put off against backing high-drawn horses. Over recent years, the lower-drawn horses have done well but you don’t want to be too close to the rail. So, stall four is fine for Zanndabad and he got a good jockey in William Buick and he comes here in great form. He ticks all the boxes.
17:40 Checkandchallenge
You want to be with high-drawn horses for this one and I like CHECKANDCHALLENGE. He’s a horse with good Group 1 form to his name. Last time out a Longchamps he finished last but he started slowly and was then restrained at the back of the field. He frequently starts slowly but he won a listed race at Newmarket last year and I’ve always thought that a mile and a quarter should be his trip.
He races a fair bit in France and I don’t think the racing there suits him because they tend to go slowly and then quicken and that doesn’t suit his style. He wants a race where they go hard. If we get a strong pace here, which is likely, he’s capable of running well.
18:15 My Mate Mozzie
I like MY MATE MOZZIE. He’s a horse with an awful lot of ability. He tends to travel a bit stronger than he finishes as we’ve seen over jumps, but he’s the ideal summer horse for races like this.
We haven’t seen him since he was sixth in the Arkle at Cheltenham but I think he’ll really enjoy this. He’s at his best on quick-ish ground and although we’ve not seen much of him on that type of ground, he travels brilliantly in his races. A mark of 96 is fair enough, he’s eight now but he’s not had that much racing and this just might suit him down to the ground.
Rory Delargy’s Day 1 Royal Ascot Tips
14:30 Charyn
15:05 The Actor
15:45 Twilight Calls (each-way)
16:25 Notable Speech
17:05 Zanndabad
17:40 Checkandchallenge
18:15 My Mate Mozzie
*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.
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