Royal Ascot 2014: day two
Muteela has won her last two races. Adhwaa is a 28-1 outsider. Annecdote finished strongly to give Lambourn's Jonny Portman a Royal Ascot success last year.
5.00pm Royal Hunt Cup preview, by Chris Cook. 31 horses will race up Ascot's straight mile. Last year Belgian Bill led home a 1-2-3-4 for horses drawn in the bottom 10 stalls. Sea Shanty breaks from stall 29.
Sky Lantern hasn't run since December. She's 9-2 to win the Duke of Cambridge Stakes. Certify is a 14-1 outsider. Last year Duntle won the race ahead of Ladys First, Dank and Beatrice Aurore.
Treve is making her British debut at Prince of Wales's Stakes. The Fugue is a 9-1 outsider despite winning a Group One against colts at this distance last autumn. Magician is also 6-2.
Wesley Ward's best chance of the week is Spanish Pipedream. His second-best chance is Sunset Glow on Friday. Ko Cache is a 50-1 outsider. Last year's National Stakes was won by Tiggy Wiggy.
Tac De Boistron is doubtful for the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot due to the drying conditions. Aeolus is an interesting outsider, having run second to Guineas winner Night Of Thunder on his final start last year. The Goodwood Cup is the next option for Marco Botti. After that, they will look towards the Irish St Leger. The BBC Radio racing correspondent, Cornelius Lysaght, keeps us up to date with who is in the royal procession. Chris Cook, Lee Mottershead and the Racing Post give their previews. They also give some tips. For more information, visit their websites.
The Duke of Cambridge has not turned up to watch his own race. Today's race is called the Windsor Forest. Space has been found in Carriage 4 of the royal parade for Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner.
Daryl Jacob has been signed up to ride Cue Card for the next jumps season. Joe Tizzard retired and Brendan Powell is now the main jockey at the Cue card stable. Jacob lost his job as main rider to Paul Nicholls in the spring. He is quoted as saying that he feels privileged to be riding one of the best chasers in training.
Channel 4 recorded an average audience of 594,000 for its Tuesday afternoon broadcast compared to 610,00 for the same day last year. Peak viewing figure of 847,500 was recorded at 4.25pm, the start of the St James’s Palace Stakes. Channel 4 is offering no formal comment on the figures. The channel will see how the numbers hold up during the rest of this week. The broadcast has not benefited from cross-promotion on BBC. It is also possible that the Royal Ascot has been less popular because of its location.
Harry Bentley will be replaced on Lightning Thunder by Olivier Peslier for Friday's Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. The official going remains good at Ascott. It was wet in my back garden in north London this morning and Asocott had a bit of drizzle overnight. There was no precipitation of any significant amount.
Two horses were killed on the first day of Royal Ascot. Case Statement fractured a near-fetlock in the Coventy Stakes for two-year-olds and Sir Graham Wade fractured his pelvis in Ascott Stake.
Case Statement was put down because of a pelvic fracture. Sir Graham Wade was also put to sleep. The gelding was injured on the course. He was taken by horse ambulance to the veterinary assessment centre at the racecourse stables.
Ladbrokes Royal Ascot tipping competition is open to the public. The winner will be the one who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price. Tuesday's winner was Fixxxer, who scored +14.80 by picking Domination (12-1), The Wow Signal (5-5), Toronado (4-6) and DrKelso (13-30 ID8719761).
