Profitable is ready to cash in
CLIVE COX believes in-form sprinter Profitable will cope with the rainsoftened ground as the King’s Stand Stakes contender leads the trainer’s three-horse bid for major prizes on day one of Royal Ascot.
Improved Profitable has wins this season in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket and the Temple Stakes at Haydock.
That last run saw him beat soft-ground lover Mecca’s Angel — one of the meeting’s best backed horses with conditions swinging in her favour at rain-hit Ascot.
Mecca’s Angel is the 2-1 favourite compared to Profitable’s odds of 5-1.
But Cox feels his four-yearold’s win by a neck on good to soft ground at Haydock has proved he should not be overlooked in the clamour.
If Profitable wins, it will be the fourth successive King’s Stand triumph for the winner of the Palace House following Sole Power (2013 & 2014) and Goldream last season.
Cox said: ‘It was Mecca’s Angel’s first run in the Temple and we had the benefit of a run.
‘I’d hope easier ground at Ascot would be more agreeable for Profitable than easier ground at Haydock.
‘He is more mature this season and, having racked up two group wins, is coming here full of confidence.’
Cox has no fears about the ground for Kodi Bear in the Queen Anne Stakes but concedes the going is a concern for Zonderland, who takes on three Classic winners in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
The former jump jockey said: ‘ I’m relaxed with Kodi Bear. It is not secret he needed the race (when seventh to Belardo) in the Lockinge Stakes. I am much happier with him. We think the world of Zonderland but I hope conditions aren’t too bad for him. He put in a big run (sixth to Galileo Gold) in the 2,000 Guineas, considering he did not come down the dip at Newmarket that well. This is more his track.’
The Ascot going is a mix of good to soft and soft, with the prospect of more rain before racing starts turning it all soft.
The meeting has not started on such a testing surface this century and an unsettled week is predicted.
It has prompted Sole Power and Acapulco (now a possible starter for Friday’s Commonwealth Cup) to scratch from the King’s Stand and doubts hang over Goldream’s participation.