paul jacobs

Paul Jacobs picks his four to follow for rest of summer

Naps guru gives us four to follow for the rest of the summer

We are almost half way through the Flat season with Royal Ascot behind us,but still with plenty of big festivals and prizes ahead, and it’s a really good time to pin-point those horses worth following for the second half of the campaign. So here are my four to follow through till autumn 2017, three of which ran at Royal Ascot.

ZAINHOM – SIR MICHAEL STOUTE

The Greenham form is working out nicely with Barney Roy winning the St James’s Palace Stakes and Dream Castle sixth in a cracking renewal of the Jersey having been given too much daylight.

This son of Street Cry was third home that day and was travelling best of the trio two and a half furlongs out only to find the one pace in the closing stages.

He again looked pretty one paced in a finish at Sandown when third in a Listed race prompting many pundits to suggest he needs a step up to 10f.

However,I take the opposite view as he travels ever so well through his races showing a high cruising speed.

Of course SMS is a much better judge of a horse than moi and has entered him in the 10.5f John Smith’s Magnet Cup, but I venture to suggest a drop back to 6f could well be his preserve for this physically imposing colt.Time will tell if I’m right.

RAIN GODDESS – AIDAN O’BRIEN

This filly ran with great credit in some top class events in the first half of her threeyear season including when a staying on fifth in the French 1,000 Guineas.

And her performance in the Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot will still be fresh in your mind when she got mugged on the line by the American filly after running through the whole field from the three furlong marker.

Giving weight to a big field of 3yo fillies was a big drop in class for her, but I reckon you will see the best of this daughter of Galileo when she is stepped up to a mile and a quarter.

May be the one factor stopping O’Brien running her over further is that her dam is the very speedy Where, but it is worth remembering that the Ballydoyle trainer had her entered in the Epsom Oaks,Munster Oaks and Ribblesdale Stakes. I think she will stay well if and when she is upped in trip and has the scope to improve further given a test of stamina.

QUEEN’S TRUST – SIR MICHAEL STOUTE

The fact Stoutey gave her a solid chance when interviewed before the Prince of Wales Stakes on the Thursday of the Royal meeting speaks volumes for the 2016 Breeders’Cup Filly and Mare Turf heroine.

She looked absolutely magnificent in the parade ring, but nearly everything conspired against her in the race proper.

The relatively moderate pace was not her cup of tea and when they quickened up three furlongs out she was at a huge disadvantage.

However, in the closing quarter mile down the home stretch the daughter of Dansili was finishing best of all despite having to run five horses deep under the overrated Olivier Peslier,a jockey not to be trusted at the Berkshire track.

A solidly run 12 furlongs on fast ground is what she wants and I am hoping that connections will take on the colts again in the King GeorgeVI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the back end of July.

She has filled out again with another year on her back and has a great attitude when she goes about her business.

She is a 25/1 shot for the Eclipse. However, I think the Sandown contest will come too quickly after Ascot. I have already asked one bookmaker for a quote for the King George and was handed a dismissive 50/1 offer which I took up for maximum stakes each-way.

Further down the line the International at York or the Irish Champion Stakes could be a feasible aim with a return to the Breeders Cup at the backend of the year to defend her title, but all of these possible races would only be realistic targets granted fast ground.

GM HOPKINS – JOHN GOSDEN

There were half a dozen horses I could have put forward in this month’s column that ran well in the Royal Hunt Cup. Remarkable once again didn’t get the best of the draw and should win a big field handicap off his current mark. Master of the World got too far behind early on before finishing well into eighth spot and looks Goodwood bound again,while Fastnet Tempest, Bossy Guest and Bravery all ran better than their finishing positions suggest, but it is the 2015 winner of this race that deserves the greatest accolade.

He won that year’s renewal off a mark of 103 and then won a Listed race over course and distance.

But he showed in last year’s Cambridgeshire (12th off a ceiling high mark of 112) and in this year’s Hunt Cup that his time is coming around again.

Held up, he was initially outpaced and hung three furlongs out but once he found his stride he was eating up the ground close home, eventually being beaten a shade over four lengths.

Hopefully, he won’t be raised for this run and a similar valuable Ascot handicap could be his for the taking,but I would love to see him prepared solely for the Cambridgeshire again in which he looked so unlucky last year.