Royal Ascot starts a week today and we’re keen to play a couple of cards early, starting with a couple of French raiders in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’ Stakes.
Christophe Ferland’s four-year-old HESHEM is 14/1 non-runner-no-bet with SkyBet at the time of writing, which on the strength of his fine Group One-second in Dubai this March looks worth chancing.
The subsequent Lockinge Stakes winner and highest rated horse in Britain, Ribchester, was narrowly back in third, with Prix Ganay-second Zarak in fourth and an in-form and subsequent Group One winner Decorated Knight further back in sixth.
Just for good measure, the seventh, Deauville, won next time out at Chester, so there’s loads of substance to the form.
Had he achieved more as a three-year-old, Heshem would likely be challenging the favourites – and I suspect a few of those at the top of the market won’t turn up or won’t have their ideal conditions.
There’s no rain forecast and I’m doubtful fast ground and ten furlongs is ante-post favourite Jack Hobbs’s ideal conditions given his best performances have been either over further – second in Golden Horn’s Derby and winning the Irish Derby – or with some cut – he won the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic and ran a blinder behind Almanzor on good-to-soft at Ascot last season.
At 6/1 in a few places, Highland Reel isn’t priced like he’s turning up – though if he did he’d be my idea of the most likely winner and would surely go off much shorter.
Second in last season’s Arc and five times a winner at Group One level, notching the fifth this month at Epsom, he’s the form horse in the race and possibly worth a covering bet with the 4/1 non-runner-no-bet again offered by SkyBet.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Ulysses is very short at 7/2 given he lacks Group One form, and Heshem has collateral form claims over Andre Fabre’s fourth-favourite Cloth Of Stars with a line through Zarak.
Heshem is also entered in Tuesday’s opening Queen Anne Stakes, where he’d have to take on Ribchester again, but this time over the shorter trip of a mile.
There’s every chance he’ll take up that option, so non-runner-no-bet is an essential concession, particularly as Al Shaqab racing have another entry with a big chance in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
Under the same ownership as Heshem, recent Prix D’Ispahan winner MEKHTAAL has strong claims at 14/1 with most bookies and 12/1 NRNB with SkyBet.
He gave Zarak a more comprehensive beating in that race than Heshem did in Meydan, and Royal Ascot very much looks the plan.
I’d be a little surprised if he and Heshem both turned up in the same race given their shared ownership, so I’m happy to back both NRNB quotes with no concerns if they do – they’re both live chances at nice prices.
1pt win Mekhtaal @12/1 non-runner-no-bet, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, 21st June (SkyBet)
1pt win Heshem @14/1 non-runner-no-bet, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, 21st June (SkyBet)