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Key events
Has anyone seen taylor swift yet? Rumors of her arrival on the runway are swirling and although she didn’t show up, Gyles Brandreth did!
Nice touch from Ascot on today’s race card:
Engines on the market
We have the fourth of our regular daily market movement newsletters courtesy of the folks at Oddschecker. These are the horses groomed at night:
3.05 – Avoid 22/1 -> 11/1
3.45 – Ramatuel 7/2 -> 2/1
6.15 – Anniversary walk 15/2 -> 5/1
Royal Procession (2:00 p.m.)
The runners are for the first event, the one that most of the crowd is perhaps more captivated by than the actual races. Friday’s list has a touch of glamor with Darcy Bussell in there … and there is a place in carriage four for Henry de Bromhead and … Mrs Henry de Bromhead.
1st wagon
The king
The queen
Lord Bamford
Lady Bamford
2nd carriage
Princess Beatrice
Mr. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Lord Frederick Windsor
Lady Frederick Windsor
3rd carriage
General Sir Patrick Sanders
Lady Sanders
Mr. Peter Troughton
Mrs. Peter Troughton
4th carriage
Dame Darcy Bussell
Mr. Angus Forbes
Mr. Henry de Bromhead
Mrs. Henry de Bromhead
We don’t think Taylor Swift, who’s in London this week, will be in the royal procession, but she’s welcome to join Royal Ascot says track director of racing Nick Smith.
It’s almost that time again … the royal procession will hit the track as always at around 2pm and we can expect details of who will be in the carriages at 12pm. The king is expected to race again after not taking part on Wednesday, but those in the carriages, who are entertained at lunch beforehand by the monarch at Windsor Castle, are never revealed every day in Royal Ascot until 12 noon.
This is also the time I mention the Serpentine Gallery exhibition of an artist Mark Wallinger I saw in 1994 when one of his installations called “Royal Ascot‘, consisted of a series of video monitors on wheeled suitcases, each isolating the leisurely movement of the royal carriage down the track on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (respectively, as it then was) of the meeting with. The British Council states in its description of the work: “This repetition of images, all backed by bright green grass, brings into play Andy Warhol’s late screen prints of Elizabeth II from his Reigning Queens series (1985), a quartet of the postage stamp icon in the camp conjugations of Hollywood makeup and bubblegum colors.
“Inside Royal Ascot Wallinger used the aesthetics and pleasures of the racetrack as a springboard to enter the debate about constitutional inertia – a debate that had taken on new spice (until 1994 the Queen and Prince Charles were tax-payers and Buckingham Palace was open to the public).” Here it is.
Queen’s Hat Stakes (2pm) preview
There was always a lively betting market on the color of the monarch’s hat when Queen Elizabeth II attended the meeting and Ladbrokes are betting on what color Camilla will be wearing. Our form guides are the team at BestofBets.com who always keep a close eye on this novelty market and stated: “Bookies are predicting the Queen will look stunning in pretty pink when she arrives at Royal Ascot this afternoon. Although it has to be said that Her Majesty isn’t afraid to wear the same colors more than once, so it might not be a huge shock if she’s back in white or blue today.’
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Pink/Peach 4/1
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Green 9/2
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Cream/white 5/1
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Yellow 6/1
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Orange 6/1
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Purple 7/1
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Blue/Navy 8/1
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Red 9/1
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20/1 bar
Here’s your lineup for today’s sports, courtesy of elegant Ascot tweet, uh X, oh you know what I mean:
Here are the horses you can cross off today as they don’t appear
15:05 Commonwealth Cup (Group 1) (British Champions Series)
1 Elite status (self-witnessing – hit joint)
3.45pm Coronation Stakes (Group 1) (British Champions Series)
2 A devoted queen (self-attestation – bound)
16.25 Duke of Edinburgh’s Handicap
6 La Yaquel (self-witnessing – abscess)
2 Teumesius Fox (self-witness – I’m going)
17.05 Sandringham Handicap
30 Lu Lu’s gift (self witness – poor range)
The fourth day, as stated in Greg’s preamble, is, wait, … yet Good to Company. We’ll post daily traffic readings here at that time, but it’s likely to stay the same given that the weather forecast appears to be fair. At the moment, there still doesn’t seem to be much of an advantage on either side of the straight.
GoingStick readings at 8am:
Side of the stands: 8.6
center: 8.4
the far side: 8.4
Preamble
Greg Wood
Good morning from Ascot on the fourth day of the royal meeting in 2024 – the last of the week during the day, but now the afternoon that lets you know you’re rounding your house and they’re about to ring the bell.
Day four doesn’t look like it has an identity in the same way as the others – opening day, Prince of Wales Stakes day, Gold Cup day and closing day – perhaps because there are two Group One events on the card, but neither one of these is in the 16:25 slot, which sets up the feature race on the remaining four cards.
Instead, Duke of Edinburgh Handicap occupies a prime position in the program, possibly because it works better for World Pool’s betting operation in Asia (which pays a hefty flat fee to offer pool betting on Ascot action in Hong Kong). By the time a large field of handicappers rolls up at 4.25pm, the Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes will be done and dusted, which feels like a bit of a waste, but that’s just the way it goes.
It would also be a bit harsh to criticize too much, given that this year’s Royals are currently bucking the trend of declining attendance at other major events so far this year. For the third day running, Thursday’s crowd was slightly higher than the 2023 figure and the 55k+ expected at the track today will enjoy a fascinating clash between some very talented and close three-year-old sprinters in the Commonwealth Cup at 3.05pm. Two of the three major 1000 Guineas winners, meanwhile, are in the field for the 3.45 Coronation Stakes, along with a filly’s third home in the Irish 1000 Guineas, and there is also a Royal runner to look forward to in Hard to resist in the Sandringham Stakes at 5.05.
The Berkshire weather forecast continues to be bright and sunny and the weather remains good to stable after more watering overnight. Tips for the seven races of the day are here – and currently shows little profit after three days, although he could easily be 0-14 from now on – and action gets underway at 2.30pm with the Albany Stakes for two-year-old fillies.
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