Royal Ascot – What Did We Learn?

When any of the big meetings or one of the major Festivals is completed it is always a good idea to take a look back and see what we can learn from the sport that we have seen and what lessons can be learned for the future.

The first thought is often born out at these meetings and is based around how competitive they are, and given that competitiveness backing the "hype" and short-priced horses is rarely the way to profit from these meetings. Supporters of the two shortest priced horses – So You Think and Frankel – endured a tough time and would not have left the meeting in profit. In fact supporting all the horses priced at 2/1 or less this week at the Royal Meeting would have resulted in a level stakes loss of over two points, with only four of the ten horses priced in that range proving successful. Anyone looking at the horse racing betting tips should bear this in mind.

When looking to support horses at those sorts of prices it is worth remembering those figures at Festival and big meetings, the racing is far more competitive than usual and the racing betting reflects this.

It takes time to establish yourself as a jockey and break through to the top-flight and for some time now it has looked as though Silvestre De Sousa would be able to do this and confirm his outstanding talent. De Sousa has honed his craft on the bread-and-butter tracks of the North and with just two rides at the meeting starting at single-figure odds from 15 mounts he looked up against it to break his Royal Ascot duck, but he scored on both Namibian and Fox Hunt for Mark Johnston who provided the majority of his rides. It looks as though Johnston now sees De Sousa as his first choice jockey at the bigger meetings as he also scored a double for the trainer on Derby Day. It's surely only a matter of time until he is used more and more by the big Southern stables.

The French females didn't get off to the best of starts with the defeat of Goldikova in the opening race of the meeting but they stamped their authority via the fillies by going 1-2 in the Coronation Stakes. Immortal Verse led home Nova Hawk and it would appear that the top-class three-year-old fillies are this year residing on the other side of the English Channel. The Falmouth Stakes would appear the next obvious target for this pair in a race where three year-olds have been successful in four out of the past five years.