Friday 22nd June 2012

We were unlucky when Ever Roses got badly bumped yesterday and lost all chance, Eastward Ho won gamely and landed us a small profit on the day. We made the correct decision in leaving Ascot alone.

Two bets at Royal Ascot today.

3.45 Royal Ascot - Coronation Stakes (Group 1) - Laugh Out Loud 4pts win @ 9/2 (Generally, get guaranteed)

I don't expect Homecoming Queen to make all today and to be honest I don't fancy her anyway. Apart from the O'Brien filly, there is no real pace in the race bar Laugh Out Loud, who likes to stride on and has the perfect pilot to judge the pace in Frankie Dettori. She should handle the ground well, and the form of her recent win in Chantilly looks strong. Looking at the make up of this race, it seems plenty are chancing their arms for a bit of black type and I make it between the top three in the betting. Samitar won at this meeting last year but might be better on better ground, added to that Laugh Out Loud boasts the most progressive profile. If Dettori gets the run of the race here, 9/2 might look big after the race.

4.25 Royal Ascot - Wolferton Handicap - Black Spirit 2pts win @ 25/1 (Generally) AND 2pts place @ Betfair SP (pays 4 places) - Placed @ 4.98

Gatewood was impressive at Epsom but Black Spirit is beginning to look very well handicapped off a mark of OR100 for a trainer whose horses are only just beginning to come into form. He is 7lb better off for 1 1/4 lengths with Gatewood on the Epsom form, and it has to be taken into consideration that he excels with a stiff finish - all his best form is at Sandown and here at Ascot, where he won his maiden. He should handle the ground and if he can run to something like 8lb better than his handicap mark, it could be enough to get him involved. He has stall 12 to overcome, but he doesn't need to be handy and is usually happy to creep into the race. 25/1 + looks a very big price. I would hope all our clients have a betfair account at this stage, advice is to put the place part of the bet on at Betfair SP - the markets are liquid enough at this meeting that our service shouldn't affect the price too much, I would expect we'll get 7/2 at the very least for four places.

Profit & loss: day: +1.60 / month: +54,41 / year: -236.66