1m (Str) Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored By Qipco) (Group 1) (British Champions Mile) (Class 1) (3yo+)
Palace Pier is the right favourite as he’s consistently shown the best form over two seasons. I’d have him over Baaeed, who is still all potential and needs to drift to be a bet – albeit not by much – and I suspect he’ll end up better over 10f than a mile. This is a very competitive race, though, and there are loads of chances besides the top two. Master Of The Seas has a very similar profile to 2019 winner King Of Change, who was also second in the 2,000 Guineas before taking the summer off, taking in a prep race then landing this with authority. The difference is Master Of The Seas has been off injured and the break wasn’t the plan – he’s been found by the market already, too, and this race is another stepping stone to the Breeders’ Cup. On price grounds, ALCOHOL FREE stands out as a bet as she’s bang there with Palace Pier on weight-adjusted ratings and her defeats of Group One winners Poetic Flare, Snow Lantern and Mother Earth leaves very few questions to answer on class grounds. She’s good enough to win this, so it might just be a question of whether she is good enough on the day, which is true of all of them. We know she likes Ascot and all ground conditions seem to come alike, so 9/1 is a bet. I also can’t ignore the claims of course specialist THE REVENANT, last year’s winner who seems to have been written off on account of the ground, but he too is a 9/1 chance that could make a mockery of those odds as he’s been trained specifically for this race and is very consistent.
1pt win Alcohol Free @9/1, 1pt win The Revenant @9/1, 15:10 Ascot, Saturday
Leave a comment