Monday 15 June 2015

5:35 Royal Ascot - Speculative Bet (16th June)


The Windsor Castle Listed Stakes over 5f on good going. A huge field of twenty-seven two-year-olds. This contest will comprise of the good, the bad & ugly. 

A number of these juveniles are talents and this will be a test for most. 

Speculative Bet looks for horses at gigantic odds. We detail hopes with an equal measure of reality, saturated with sugar to sweeten the taste of defeat if it comes our way. It probably will because I'm about to reveal a 100/1 tip so we are shooting at grouse blindfolded. It's worth remembering you can't have a big price winner unless you pick a horse with a similarly juicy price.

Heather Main would love a winner at Royal Ascot. Aragon Knight has been a bit of a playboy in his time. If a human he'd waltz up to the Royal Enclosure with a couple of dolly birds on his arm, eyeing-up the crowd in case Peter Stringfellow tried to introduce himself with a bottle of Carver Sutro Palisades. 

Aragon Knight is a strapping bay colt who had his own ideas on debut, swerving to right leaving the stall and unseating his rider. This son of Kheleyf showed his inexperience next start at Ascot, pulling too hard and tiring in the final furlong. If you could believe the form of his narrow defeat at Salisbury you would be thinking ''this one's slipped under the radar'' but can that form be taken literally? I doubt it. But that's the gamble. At odds of 300/1 or so on Betfair you could have worse bets. It would be a small bet and my fingers would be tightly crossed. 

Aragon Knight 100/1 Unp