In Newsboy’s unmissable column, our tipster gives his views on every race for Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot, historically known as Ladies’ Day
Royal Ascot is set to draw its biggest crowd of the week for Gold Cup day, traditionally known as ‘Ladies’ Day’. The Gold Cup is the most historic race of the prestigious five-day fixture which attracts the best horses, trainers and jockeys from Europe and around the world .
The feature prize is the fourth race on the card which opens with the 5f Norfolk Stakes for two-year-olds followed by the Ribblesdale Stakes, the 1m4f race for three-year-old fillies. Newsboy has analysed every race and given his 1-2-3.
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2.30 Norfolk Stakes
AFJAN made a most promising debut at Chantilly at the beginning of the month and gets the vote to take his tally to 2-2.
Trained in France by Henri-François Devin, my selection is bred to be precocious and speedy – his sire Mehmas finished second in the 2016 Coventry Stakes before going on to lift the Group 2 July Stakes (Newmarket) and Richmond Stakes (Goodwood) later that summer, while dam Al Johrah chased home Lady Aurelia in the Queen Mary Stakes the same year.
Afjan started out in a race for newcomers over an extended five furlongs at Devin’s local course, going off second choice in the betting in a field of nine.
And Alexis Pouchin’s mount got his career off to the perfect start, running on strongly to the finish to get the better of Vardif by a length and a quarter.
There is plenty of improvement to come at the second time of asking as Afjan bids to better his parents’ feats at Royal Ascot. Charles Darwin is the clubhouse leader in terms of form and rates the principal danger, ahead of Naval Light and, at bigger odds, Comical Point .
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 AFJAN, 2 CHARLES DARWIN, 3 COMICAL POINT
3.05 King George V Stakes
SING US A SONG , progressive and likely to thrive for a step up in trip, has the right profile for trainer Ralph Beckett, who hit the bullseye with Surefire in 2021 and Going The Distance 12 months ago.
Successful on the last of his three starts as a two-year-old – he won a 10-furlong maiden at Goodwood by a short head last September – Camelot’s son made his return to the fray in a handicap over the same distance at Sandown Park at the end of April.
A 4-1 chance in a field of 12, Hector Crouch’s mount came back from a 212-day absence to double his career tally, making much of the running and surging home with gusto to hold Urban Glimpse by two and a quarter lengths.
After the colt’s pre-Royal Ascot purchase by Wathnan Racing, James Doyle is now on board Sing Us A Song who has a 7lb rise in the weights to overcome – but both his run style and his pedigree suggest another step forward will be forthcoming now he tackles a mile and a half.
In a wide-open contest, Serious Contender , Gunship , Lightening Mann and Boatswain are just four horses capable of getting involved.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 SING US A SONG, 2 SERIOUS CONTENDER, 3 LIGHTENING MANN
3.40 Ribblesdale Stakes
SERENITY PRAYER has seen her Musidora Stakes second boosted by Whirl in the Oaks at Epsom and holds leading claims.
We didn’t see the daughter of Dubawi – dam Peach Tree, a sister to 1,000 Guineas and Oaks heroine Love, won at Group 3 level – as a two-year-old.
But Serenity Prayer had evidently been showing up well on Andrew Balding’s Kingsclere gallops prior to making her debut against seven rivals at Newbury in April.
Backed into 2-1 joint-favouritism, my selection and Oisín Murphy justified the support with a length-and-and-a-half margin to earn a trip to York for the Group 3 Oaks trial.
Racing at the back of the six-runners, Serenity Prayer began to feel the heat at the top of the straight but stuck to her guns and got up for second, five and a half lengths behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner.
Whirl went under by just a neck to stablemate Minnie Hauk at Epsom and Serenity Prayer, for whom the move up to a mile and a half is a plus, still has more to give. Catalina Delcarpio, Life Is Beautiful and Lady Vivian are taken to fight it out for the minor medals.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 SERENITY PRAYER, 2 CATALINA DELCARPIO, 3 LADY VIVIAN
4.20 Gold Cup
ILLINOIS is expected to answer the questions regarding his stamina and extend his trainer Aidan O’Brien’s record in Royal Ascot’s signature race to double figures.
Opponents will point to the fact that today’s favourite was parachuted into the Gold Cup reckoning only when stablemate, and dual winner, Kyprios succumbed to a career-ending injury last month.
But a Ballydoyle understudy can still bring the house down, as Gstaad, standing in for the sidelined Albert Einstein, proved in Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes.
Twelve months ago, Illinois made his first visit to Ascot a winning one with a victory in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase over a mile and six furlongs.
My selection then stepped back to a mile and a half during the summer for seconds in the top-level Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp and York’s Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes, before a neck defeat behind another O’Brien trainee, Jan Brueghel, in the St Leger at Doncaster in September.
Ryan Moore’s mount rounded off 2024 with a win in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay over a mile and seven back in Paris on Arc weekend.
And he proved everything is in working order after 215 days off with a length-and-a-quarter margin from Al Qareem in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester last month.
As the trainer himself notes, nobody will know whether Illinois possesses the required stamina until he reaches the home straight this afternoon. But O’Brien rarely sends short runners to the Gold Cup and a 10th triumph awaits.
Candelari, like Illinois an up-and-coming four-year-old, isn’t passed over lightly, while Trawlerman and Sweet William, second and third to Kyprios for John and Thady Gosden in 2024, are poised to profit if the young guns’ staying power doesn’t hold out.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 ILLINOIS, 2 CANDELARI, 3 SWEET WILLIAM
5.00 Britannia Stakes
FIFTH COLUMN gives the impression he doesn’t do more than the necessary – and that makes life tough for the handicapper.
As a two-year-old, the John and Thady Gosden-trained son of Kingman didn’t live up to expectations, with his four races yielding four defeats.
It wasn’t a massive surprise, therefore, to see Fifth Column undergo a gelding operation before he marked his comeback from a 158-day lay-off by getting his head in front in a one-mile Kempton Park maiden at the beginning of April.
Given a British Horseracing Authority mark of 86, my selection made his debut in the sphere in the Esher Cup at Sandown Park 18 days later and proved ahead of that assessment with a three-quarter-length beating of Seraph Gabriel.
There’s still a way to go before Fifth Column, equipped with cheekpieces, gets to the bottom of the barrel and a 6lb rise in the weights doesn’t look out of reach. In a race where the bookies are struggling to find a favourite, Consolidation, Teroomm, Fearnot and God Of War are all viable candidates.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 FIFTH COLUMN, 2 TEROOMM, 3 GOD OF WAR
5.35 Hampton Court Stakes
JACKKNIFE lost his unbeaten record in unfortunate circumstances at Sandown Park three weeks ago and shouldn’t be written off.
Absent from the track at two, the Kameko-sired colt was given his introduction in a nine-runner novice stakes at Epsom in April, getting the better of favourite The King’s Falcon by a neck.
That form is unexceptional but Jackknife emerged with plenty of credit despite finding every bit of trouble going in the Listed Heron Stakes over a mile on the Brigadier Gerard Stakes undercard last time out.
Racing towards the far rail in the straight, Oisín Murphy couldn’t find daylight on his Roger Varian-saddled partner until the race was as good as over.
With winner Opera Ballo in the clear, Jackknife kept on into third under a hand ride and looks capable of much better over this additional two furlongs. Detain (third) and Trinity College (fourth) have their sights lowered after running well in the Prix du Jockey Club and have claims, along with High Stock.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 JACKKNIFE, 2 TRINITY COLLEGE, 3 HIGH STOCK
6.10 Buckingham Palace Stakes
RAMAZAN needs to leave this season’s form way behind to figure, but is capable of doing exactly that.
Richard Fahey’s five-year-old will win nothing if repeating his ‘achievements’ of 2025, a sixth at Musselburgh and a last-of-10 effort at Haydock Park in April and a hefty defeat – he blew the start before coming home 11th of 16 behind Rousing Encore – at York last month.
But the plus side is that the British Horseracing Authority number cruncher has taken a losing run stretching back to August 2023 into account.
Victorious from a rating of 98 at Chepstow for his latest win – Razaman finished a head second in the Victoria Cup over this course and distance from 105 in May of last year – he now competes from a figure of 96.
That makes him a well-handicapped horse, and Fahey’s booking of rising star 5lb claimer Warren Fentiman is another plus. In a finale of many possible outcomes, Never So Brave, Akkadian Thunder and Fifty Nifty merit a second look.
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 RAMAZAN: 2 NEVER SO BRAVE, 3 FIFTY NIFTY
