Camelot – runs in The Prince Of Wales’ Stakes
THE mighty Camelot makes his Royal Ascot debut tomorrow in the feature race, the Prince Of Wales’ Stakes, having lost three of his last four starts. Will last year’s aspiring but eventually failing Triple Crown winner repay connections’ faith in their potential superstar son of Galileo?
There is no doubting the British do pageants such as Royal Ascot like no other nation. Overly patriotic and sentimental? Maybe…but it feeds the human spirit.
This year’s five day royal racing extravaganza started with the royal carriages heading down the Ascot straight and the procession, minus a recuperating Duke of Edinburgh, heralded the beginning of the best five days flat racing in the world. The Queen’s hat caused some controversy though among fashion experts and indeed the betting industry. Was it pink or peach? The official word from Buckingham Palace was that it was peach. Apparently Ladbrokes perceived it to be pink but paid out on both. According to the Channel 4 fashion expert, it was “blush”! And there’s me thinking blush was a rosé wine!
No sooner had the carriages come to a halt than Royal Ascot paid its respect to the trainer who has encapsulated Royal Ascot for four decades, the late Sir Henry Cecil, who died a week ago. A minute’s silence marked the passing of a 70-year-old genius whose 75 Royal Ascot winners made him the darling of all the enclosures at Ascot and an irreplaceable fixture in the third week of June.
Tiger Cliff was the well supported 4/1 favourite to land the Ascot Stakes for Lady Cecil and although he came with a rare rattle under Tom Queally inside the final two furlongs, he could not reel in the Jonjo O’Neill trained winner, Well Sharp. So Sir Henry’s long laid plan did not quite come to fruition on Day One.
The not quite so new kid on the block, Aidan O’Brian enjoyed a Royal Ascot Day One 117.5/1 double, courtesy of Declaration Of War in the opener, the Queen Anne and War Commander, a very impressive six length winner of the Coventry.
So will Camelot continue the Ballydoyle bandwagon tomorrow? The horse had an operation for colic last year, so perhaps in the light of that, his odds-on defeat by Al Kazeem at last month’s Tattersalls’ Gold Cup was excusable. However, will he overturn a length and a half defeat on the same terms tomorrow? The form book says no and the betting suggests Camelot may have to wait for another big pay day. However, as with all races at the royal meeting, this is not a two-horse race. Keep an eye on the French raider, Maxios.
As for Sir Henry, tomorrow he’ll be looking down at his Duke of Cambridge runner, Chigun. On the book, the 7/2 second favourite cannot beat the Stoute runner Dank but would you bet against a best laid plan of HRAC and Warren Place?
Posted by Simon Double on 18 June 2013
