Racing Tips: Brilliant Battaash can prove hes the best sprinter around
WITH three Group Ones in the first four races at Royal Ascot, the five-day meeting starts with the very loudest of bangs.
And there certainly wont be any hanging around in the Kings Stand Stakes (3.40pm) over the minimum five furlongs.
There have been many incredible duels at Royal Ascot over the years, but we could be set for an extraordinary one in this race.
Wesley Wards LADY AURELIA has made the trip over from America for the past two years, and she has pulverised her rivals on both occasions by a combined winning distance of 10 lengths.
Her Queen Mary win in 2016 was breathtaking, while 12 months ago she almost broke the track record set by Miss Andretti in 2007 in this very race.
This daughter of Scat Daddy, whose progeny perform so well at Ascot, is a brilliant filly and it would be no surprise if she was to net the hat-trick.
However, she is yet to meet a sprinter as quick as BATTAASH at the Berkshire track.
They have already raced against each other once – in last summers Nunthorpe Stakes at York, but Battaash got upset in the preliminaries that day which put paid to his chance.
That is the main worry again for trainer Charlie Hills and the horses backers because he does have his quirks, especially with Ascot being such a melting pot of excitement.
Hills and jockey Jim Crowley will be doing their utmost to keep him calm and if they can do that that I believe he can get the better of the star American filly.
That defeat in the Nunthorpe was the only one of his five-race season, with his best performance coming on his final start in the Prix de lAbbaye at Chantilly.
Battaash was brilliant that day, scorching four lengths clear of his rivals and reversing the form with Marsha from York.
That run proved how good he is and even though he only won narrowly on his reappearance in the Temple Stakes at Haydock last month, I was actually very impressed with him.
Not only did he have to carry a penalty, but the race itself didnt go right for him, with KACHY blasting out on the far side of the track.
He had to make up an awful lot of ground near the stands side rail, but he still got the job done and held off the strong finishes of horses like Washington DC and Mabs Cross.
That race was purely a trial for this, so for him to win conceding 5lbs really was a fine effort and he looks the value at 9/4 with Paddy Power.
Although Kachy wont have the weight advantage here, Tom Dascombes speedy five-year-old is still a big threat.
He has looked better than ever this season, winning by an incredible nine lengths at Chesters May meeting before going so close in the Temple Stakes.
He was well beaten in last years Diamond Jubilee Stakes, but connections have accepted that he is best over five furlongs and dont forget that he was a close second to Quiet Reflection in the 2016 Commonwealth Cup.
At 10/1 with Coral, he looks to have solid each-way claims.
Going back to the two main protagonists, there has to be a slight worry that Lady Aurelia is beginning to regress.
She ran very well in the Nunthorpe when heartbreakingly beaten on the line by Marsha, but was a bitter disappointment in the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November.
Ward has said that she was over the top then, yet perhaps more concerning was her defeat in a Listed contest at Keeneland, a race in which she had won easily in 2017.
Of course that was only a trial for this, and she clearly comes alive at Ascot, but there is a nagging doubt there and shes as short as 15/8 with Coral.
Of the others, Mabs Cross makes some appeal at 20/1 with Ladbrokes from an each-way perspective.
He won the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket at the beginning of May and put in a career best to be fourth in the Temple Stakes.
Washington DC may well have been flattered to finish so close at Haydock, but it is still interesting that Ryan Moore has opted to ride Different League.
She won the Albany Stakes at this meeting last year when trained in France and could outrun her 33/1 price.
BILL ESDAILES KINGS STAND STAKES 1-2-3
- Battaash
- Lady Aurelia
- Kachy
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