6f Coventry Stakes (Group 2) (Class 1) (2yo)
As ever, this looks really tricky with 17 mostly unexposed and improving two-year-olds so it’s not a race to get carried away with. I’m going to throw a few darts and back one from each side of the track, both from the Richard Hannon yard. All the fancied horses are drawn low on the far side and GISBURN was the biggest eye catcher when bolting up at Newbury. He didn’t know his job first time out but rallied when he got the gist, and the level of improvement he showed next time out was striking. He’s quite a short price but he looks high class. Drawn near the stand side rail is 66/1 rag SECRET STRENGTH at the same price and in the same colours of Derby second Mojo Star. Hannon clearly likes this horse and I’m a sucker for anything by sire sensation Mehmas. The price is clearly way too big and you can get twice that on the Exchanges at the time of writing. Berkshire Shadow and The Acropolis were the others on the short list.
1pt win Gisburn @6/1, 15:05 Royal Ascot, Tuesday
0.5pts win Secret Strength @66/1, 15:05 Royal Ascot, Tuesday