By Ed Culham
RUN OVER the same distance as the Royal Hunt Cup 24 hours earlier, the Britannia Stakes (5.00pm) is always one of the most difficult races of the week at Royal Ascot.
With 30 three-year-olds taking each other on down Ascot’s straight mile, it isn’t a contest for the faint-hearted and punters are advised to tread carefully.
There hasn’t been a winning favourite in the past decade, with eight of the 10 winners returning at double-figure prices, so don’t be afraid to look further down the list.
The one my eye is drawn to is RAMAZAN for Richard Fahey.
He had some good form last year, most notably when a fast-finishing third to Galeron in the Goffs Million over seven furlongs at the Curragh in September.
That form was franked when the winner finished fourth in the 2000 Guineas and Ramazan was doing his best work at the finish.
The son of Kodiac then reappeared after a gelding operation to finish a decent third at York, again finishing his race off well.
The step up to a mile looks the right move and he is worth chancing at 22/1 each-way.
In last year’s King George V Handicap (3.05pm), Charlie Appleby and William Buick combined to land the prize with Secret State and they can repeat the trick with TAGABAWA.
The son of New Approach has only raced on the all-weather so far in his career, but we know that all-weather form often translates well to Ascot’s sand-based turf track.
He is bred to be good and he certainly looked it when scooting clear to win a Kempton handicap by four lengths in April.
That was his first start over 1m4f and he is a fair bet at around the 4/1 mark.
POINTERS
Tagabawa 3.05pm
Ramazan e/w 5.00pm
