Al Azd was mightily impressive at Ascot and showed that he is at least a bottom-tier Class 1 level performer.
I said it would be best to wait for the horse to drift, and he drifted out to 2/1, which was an absolute steal and should never have reached that price. Hopefully, some of you got on.
Miss Kodi 10/1 (0.5pt EW, 3pl) – Ascot 1.45
After a few days of short-priced selections, it's nice to get back to my bread and butter, in the shape of a larger-priced horse.
There's every chance that I'm reading too much into this, but I do think Miss Kodi is severely overpriced at the time of writing. She was very good on her debut, winning by 7L, which seemed a bit unexpected. Clive Cox knows when he has a smart juvenile on his hands, but she went off at 6/1, so she either was going to improve for the run or it caught them by surprise.
Her pedigree suggests that she has a decent chance of being a precocious type. Her father has produced speedy juveniles, and was a good one himself. The Dam was unraced, but she is a sibling to Arcano, trained by Brian Meehan in 2009. That horse was a Group 1 winner as a two-year-old, and produced an RPR 2lbs better than Miss Kodi did on her debut. If she can replicate a sliver of that ability, she should have a nice chance.
I recognise that this is one of the best filly two-year-old races we've had this season. A lot of them bring form from Royal Ascot.
Goliath 10/1 (0.5pt EW, 3pl) – Ascot 3.35
The main race of the day/weekend is the King George at Ascot. This historic Group 1 is a fantastic race every year, and often throws up some barnstormers. With the horses that are turning up, it's hard not to predict another fantastic race.
Even though Calandagan hasn't been at his best this year, 13/8 could easily be a very good price. He is one of the best horses in the world, and if the true Calandagan shows up, he's the horse they all have to beat. I'm not going to lie, I was very tempted to go with him for this race, as I was not expecting those odds.
Despite the tempting odds, I had to give Goliath a go at the price he's at. He is a previous winner of this race, and the year he won it, he won it with ease. This year's renewal is definitely a stronger race, but based on what we've seen from him this year, he is a lively contender.
I think he should and would have won at Royal Ascot. He was given a fairly awful ride by Soumillon, who would've been the first to say that. He waited and waited to go on him, and when he went, his irons slipped, and it was a no-hoper from that point onwards.
What we know about this horse is that he has a high cruising speed and loves fast ground. He should get a solid gallop to aim at from the rear of the field, with multiple pacemakers in the race, so at 10/1, he looked like the biggest no-brainer selection in the race.
Grizedale 7/2 (1pt) – Ascot 4.45
I've backed this horse in the past, and he didn't win, and I've backed against him, and he beat my horse. It's not a good relationship we have, but I'll be on Grizedale's side on Saturday.
I was blown away by his performance at Newbury last time out. I thought he wanted a soft surface to be seen at his best, and I also believed carrying 10st 9lbs was going to be too much. He proved me wrong and then some.
The handicapper has given him a fair old whack up the weights, but based on what I saw at Newbury, this lad could still be ahead of the handicapper. You rarely see a horse carry anything over 10st to a win in a handicap on the flat, and he won by over four lengths. It was a very impressive performance.
Believed 3/1 (2pt) – Gowran Park 3.22
This could be a very good race, and from the early odds, Believed is being slightly overlooked.
In my opinion, she should be the favourite, but it's hard to argue against the bookies putting the O'Brien horse at the top of the market.
I was very close to tipping her up in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, but I opted against her and went with another horse. She ran a blinder and finished in third spot. The form of that race looks rock-solid, as we know from yesterday's 2pt winner Al Azd. She was fractions behind that horse, so you've got to say that she is a very good horse. Al Azd pumped a useful field off a handicap mark of 100, so this Listed event should be fine for Believed, especially with the weight allowance.
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