IT’S TIME FOR A HOT SCURRY
Clever Clive’s on the march
KODITIME is 3-1 to take today’s Listed Scurry Stakes (2.05) at Sandown for the in-form trainer Clive Cox.
A winner on his penultimate start when giving weight, the three-yearold could be favourably drawn in stall 10 and punters believe he is the one to catch.
Youkan is still be open to improvement and has been nibbled at each way into 20-1 from 25-1.
Via Serendipity has been well backed in the Handicap (3.15) and 5-1 could be as big as you will get for Fran Berry’s mount.
I rode Almoreb on Tuesday and can reliably inform you he is in great shape – but needs rain to be seen at his best. That said he is into 7-1 from 10s. As World Cup fever sweeps the nation, the aptly-named Rio Ronaldo has been strong in the market in the 2.35 and it has to be significant that Andrea Atzeni takes the ride for Mike Murphy.
At York, the ladies take centre stage in the Queen Mother’s Cup (1.50).
In a race where the first home wins her weight in champagne, Serena Brotherton (right) will be hoping her mount Pacify – owned by Prince Charles – can carry the full 11st to victory aboard this 6-1 shot.
But we have also seen cash for Mukhayyam (11-2), who claimed the Unibet Handicap at the same course last July and will be ridden by Emily Easterby, who won this race in 2016.
Royal Ascot starts on Tuesday and Rhododendron is 3-1 market leader to bag the Queen Anne (2.30) and on the book she should take all the beating. However at bigger prices, Unibet have laid a few quid on Lord Glitters who is yet to race on ground this quick but is on the upgrade and – if running in this rather than the Hunt Cup,– could reward each way support at 12-1. Lady Aurelia is 2-1 to win her third race at the meeting in the King’s Stand (3.40) and there is nothing in her form to suggest that she is vulnerable with conditions absolutely ideal. Cracksman is 4-6 to claim the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and he would be our biggest liability of the week. Unibet are top price 4-1 on Poet’s Word and he could save us a few quid if continuing on an upward curve. Stradivarius (85-40) and Order Of St George (15-8) go head-tohead in the Gold Cup on Friday and it’s the former that punters are more keen on after an easy success at York.