TIP TWO WIN CAN UPSET THE BILLIONAIRES AGAIN
Roger Teal has never won a Group 1 race. His small, but successful, yard at tiny Great Shefford, close to Newbury racecourse, was not built for such panache.
However, the whole picture changed on 2000 Guineas day, six weeks ago.
For sandwiched in between two billionaire operations, Coolmore Stud and Godolphin, was Roger’s 50/ 1 outsider Tip Two Win, beaten just a length-and-a-half.
Saxon Warrior won the first colt’s classic of the season and went on to be an odds-on favourite, finishing fourth, in the Epsom Derby.
Third placed, a head behind Tip To Win, was Godolphin’s Masar. It’s history that he was an authoritative winner of the Derby.
Owner breeder Mrs Ann Cowley, £ 107,500 richer from Tip Two Win’s amazing Newmarket second, now eyes up that treasured Group 1 triumph at Ascot on Tuesday.
The mile-long £307,850 St James’s Palace Stakes, on day one of Royal Ascot, is the target and already some are cribbing the Newmarket run as a fluke.
Given what ensued at Epsom, it’s hard to write it off in such a superior way. The son of Dark Angel has no idea that he lives in less-than-opulent digs.
Principal danger is John Gosden’s 3/1 favourite, Without Parole, who has won all of his three visits to the racecourse, and could still be open to any amount of progress.
Wednesday’s Royal Hunt Cup will be a mile- long lottery. A 30- runner cavalry charge, and one of the roughest races in the season rolled into one.
Difficult to unscramble normally, but Godolphin have an outstanding candidate in Saltonstall this time – fresh from a victory in a Curragh Premier Handicap for Mike Halford.
Aljazzi was second in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes last year, beaten three-quarters-of-a-length by 114-rated, heavily-backed French raider, Qemah.
He came back well after a break at Sandown eight weeks ago, following a close- up seventh in the Goldikova Stakes at Del Mar, California, in November.
SELECTIONS
NAP – Tip Two Win (Ascot 4.20, Tuesday). (11/2).
DOUBLE – Saltonstall (Ascot 5.0, Wednesday). (16/1).
TREBLE – Aljazzi (Ascot 3.40, Wednesday). (7/2).