Wednesday Royal Ascot Dark Horses – Dave Stevos
Wednesday Royal Ascot Dark Horses
Dave Stevos has already posted three Ascot horses at big odds for Day 1. Now, he has a couple of Wednesday Royal Ascot Dark Horses for you to have a look at. Check them out below.
Queen Mary Stakes – Sivana
Wesley Ward has an excellent record in this race. He has won it four times since 2009 and he has an exciting filly in Love Reigns to war with this year. The daughter of US Navy Flag won very emphatically on her only start so far at Keeneland, destroying the field by nearly 10L. She is quick and she’ll go hard and fast from the front. Chances are, she’ll probably win. However, there are a couple in here with blazing speed that may just force her to do more in the early stages than her jockey would like.
If the trailblazers do set it up for closer, Sivana could be the one to benefit. By a very promising sire in Goken, this filly made a big impression on me when winning her debut at Chantilly (5f gd). Her jockey had a tight hold of her well up until the 2f pole. Then, when the others quickened, Benoist still held a tight rein.
He switched her wide, shook the reins and she showed a very nice turn of foot to quicken clear and score comfortably. She seemed to relish the nice ground and it was much softer over the same C&D on her next outing. In that Listed heat Benoist dropped her out and tried to come with a late run. She travelled into it beautifully, she just couldn’t see it through on the slower surface. It should be much better ground at Ascot and Sivana could put up a bold show at odds of 25/1.
Wednesday Royal Ascot Dark Horses: Sivana e/w @ 25/1
Duke Of Cambridge Stakes – Primo Bacio
Long time followers will be more than familiar with this filly. Trained by Ed Walker, we backed her at tasty odds when she won a Listed contest at York in scintillating style (8f gd). She first caught my eye on her previous start when she should have won a G3 at Newbury. She was beat 2.25L by Alcohol Free and with a clear run, the result would have been very different.
What made her stand out for those two runs was her searing turn of foot. She then ran a monstrous race when we were on (for 4 places of course) at Newmarket (8f gd/fm) in the G1 Falmouth. She was short of room twice and she ended up 5th, 1.5L behind Snow Lantern, 1L behind Mother Earth and a neck behind Alcohol Free and Lady Bowthorpe. It is serious form and Walker next headed to France for the G1 Prix Rothschild.
Soft Ground
At Deauville Primo Bacio lost no caste in defeat, beat just 2L for the win in 7th. However, I was amazed Walker decided to run on soft ground. The filly clearly relishes quick ground and I don’t think she enjoyed her experience in France. Her last two runs of the season were well below par back on good ground at York and Newmarket but that wasn’t the real Primo Bacio.
She was keen and probably needed the run on her return at Goodwood. I must admit I was hoping she’d run better but my guess is that Walker has bigger prizes in mind than Listed races. On her best form last year this filly is a G1 animal and I am giving her one last chance to demonstrate what she is capable of. If she produces the goods and gets her ground, she will outrun her odds of 20/1.
