Could the King land his first Royal Ascot winner?

You don’t need to be a genius to know that if you are training for HM The King and HM The Queen, then it would be a shrewd career move to land a Royal Ascot winner for them later this month.

This is, of course, the first time that the King and Queen will be having runners at the famous meeting under their new titles. Their trainers know that if they can engineer a winner for the royal duo at Ascot’s five-day event, it will generate hugely positive headlines all over the news and sports pages.

I think the King and Queen have at least two first-rate chances of a winner at the meeting and I am backing one of those horses now ante-post and keeping a watching brief on the other one.

The one to back is SAGA, who has to be one of the unluckiest horses in training. The John and Thady Gosden-trained four-old gelding should have won at Royal Ascot last year when Frankie Dettori overdid the hold-up tactics in the Britannia Stakes.

Saga finished a close second that day and in the same position on his seasonal debut at Newmarket last month, when he narrowly failed to peg back King of Conquest. Charlie Appleby’s gelding franked the form in spades when he went on to win a Listed race at Goodwood three weeks later.

Saga is no longer as well handicapped as he was a year ago but he is still capable of landing a big handicap of his mark of 106. Back him two points win at 14-1 for the Royal Hunt Cup on 21 June with bet365.

With 30 runners likely to line up, I am not interested in betting on him each way for just four places now because there will almost certainly be up to seven or eight places available on the day from bookies such as Sky Bet.

Ireland’s migrant hypocrisy

There are any number of dangers in the race headed by Astro King, who was fourth in the Royal Hunt Cup last year off a 3 lbs higher mark than he will race off this year: 102 as opposed to 99 now. Astro King showed plenty of promise for his new yard of Daniel and Claire Kubler when unlucky in running in the Sky Bet Hambleton Handicap at York last month. Repeatedly denied a clear run, he was fourth that day too and the Royal Hunt Cup surely has to be his target again in 12 days’ time.

The other King and Queen-owned horse that I like for Royal Ascot is Circle of Fire, a lightly raced three-year-old who is in the capable hands of veteran Newmarket trainer Sir Michael Stoute. With only four runs to date, this one-time Derby hopeful has endless scope for improvement and the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes on 23 June looks the ideal target for him.

Circle of Fire ran twice in the spell of nine days last month and there was plenty to like about his second run in the Lingfield Derby Trial behind Military Order. True, Charlie Appleby’s colt let down the form in the Betfred Derby but that run – when last of 14 at Epsom – was too bad to be true and can safely be ignored.

However, rather annoyingly Circle of Fire’s odds have halved from 12-1 in the last few days and he is now a top priced 6-1. I can’t recommend backing him at those skinny odds two weeks before the race as he will surely not be much shorter on the day, so hold off with any ante-post bets for now.

It’s been a bit of a slow start to the 2023 flat season for Penworthy followers in terms of winning bets but there is plenty of time to turn things around and no better time to do it than at Royal Ascot.

This weekend’s racing fare is modest and I have no strong fancies so I will leave it at just the one ante-post bet for this week.

2023 flat season running total: – 5.3 points.

2022-3 jumps season: + 54.3 points on all tips.

Pending bets:

2 points win Saga at 14-1 for the Royal Hunt Cup.

1 point each way Zoffee at 20-1 for the Northumberland Plate, paying ¼ odds, 4 places.

Settled bets:

1 point each way Royal Scotsman at 17/2 in the 2000 Guineas, 1/5 odds, paying four places. 3. + 0.5 points.

1 point each way Call My Bluff at 4-1 in the Chester Cup, paying six places, 1/5 odds. 3. – 0.2 points.

1 point each way Safe Voyage at 12-1 in the Victoria Cup, paying seven places, 1/5 odds. 5. + 1.4 points.

1 point each way Popmaster at 6-1 in the Connect It Utility Services Handicap

Unplaced. – 2 points

1 point each way Royal Acclaim at 6-1 in the Temple Stakes. Unplaced. – 2 point.

1 point each way Sprewell at 10-1 for the Derby paying 1/5 odds, five places. 4. + 1 point.

1 point each way Arrest at 4-1 for the Derby, paying 1/5 odds, four places. Unplaced. – 2 points.

1 point each way Mokaatil at 12-1 for the Epsom Dash, paying 1/5 odds, seven places. Unplaced. – 2 points.