Lightly raced colt can stamp his authority on staying division
The Ascot Gold Cup is Thursday’s feature and this year’s renewal looks well up to scratch.
The participation of 11/4 favourite Forgotten Rules is in major doubt though as the ground is likely to be too firm for his tastes. With such fears over fast ground he’d have to be taken on if allowed to run and the most likely winner of the race could well be Mizzou at 5/1.
He’s always looked an out and out stayer and the way he won here over 2 miles earlier in the season suggests this extra half mile is going to see even more improvement.
He doesn’t really need to improve to figure though, his 2 length beating of Vent Du Force (reopposes here) reads extremely well with that horse going on to win the Henry II Stakes at Sandown.
Vent Du Force is the third favourite here at 8/1 and with Mizzou having already beaten him convincingly he surely has to go close.
At bigger prices Simenon could run very well. He was 4th in this last year when the slow early pace wouldn’t have suited and previously he’d shown how good he can be when he was 2nd in the race in 2013.
He was behind Vent Du Force last time out but that was his first run in almost a year and he was very weak in the betting that day, clearly needing the run.
He’s a very reliable horse so at 8/1 is worth covering each way.
Tercentenary winner will stand the Test of Time
There is a great turnout for the Tercentenary Stakes and the form lines of Peacock (9/2) and Disegno (9/2) will catch the eyes of many.
They were 2nd and 3rd behind subsequent Derby winner Golden Horn at Newmarket earlier in the season. Both should run very well but preference is for Time Test at 9/4, who was visually very impressive when winning the London Gold Cup.
That was only a handicap win but it is usually won by a future group winner, Cannock Chase won it last year before winning this next time out.
If that run from this season isn’t enough to convince it’s worth remembering that on Time Test’s final start last season he finished second to Latharnach off level weights and that horse followed home Glenaeagles in the Group 1 St James Palace Stakes on Tuesday.
9/4 – Time Test to win the Tercentenary Stakes
Ryan in for Moore luck in Thursday’s finale
Thursday’s card ends with two very difficult handicaps but the King George V Stakes looks much more solvable than the preceding Britannia Stakes.
Dissolution, for Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore, is likely to be a warm order for this and if Time Test does the business earlier in the card he’s only going to get backed further.
Dissolution was second to Time Test on his latest start and has been crying out for a step up to this trip of a mile and a half all season. The form of his second in a Newbury handicap looks stronger than that of the Newbury handicap that King Bolete won and a bigger danger could be Taper Tantrum.
That horse was unlucky in running at Epsom behind Dissolution’s stable mate Stravagante and when you take into account that Taper Tantrum was making his seasonal debut that day it looks likely he’ll improve for that run.
