Bank on sea to win at Ascot today

– Banksea is a worthy ally in the Weatherbys Handicap at Ascot today.

This Luca Cumani-trained four-year-old was disappointing in the Royal Hunt Cup on his most recent start in June, but he has been given plenty of time to recover from those exertions.

As such, Banksea should be much fresher than many of his rivals in this 1600m handicap, while he certainly has enough to quality to go well in a race of this nature.

This son of Lawman was aggressively campaigned as a threeyear-old and contested a raft of hot handicaps.

These included the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket last September.

Soon after that race Banksea was sent off for a gelding operation.

He then returned to the fray at Newbury in April and produced a superb effort to win the Spring Cup.

The form from that race looks watertight as runner-up Another Touch has since won a Listed race., while Fastnet Tempest claimed victory in his next two starts.

Banksea has only had 12 career outings, so it is a perfectly acceptable claim to suggest he might still be a progressive animal at this sort of grade.

And though he must shoulder top weight, a big show at Ascot will be needed to fuel dreams of a second assault on the Cambridgeshire. –

London