Ascot Gold Cup: Saddler’s Rock

With 18 runners going to post, this year’s Ascot Gold Cup (3.45) is more about quantity rather than quality. Nine of the last ten winners of the race were awarded a Racing Post Rating in excess of 120 but only three of this year’s field have scaled such heights: Saddler’s Rock, Colour Vision and Rite Of Passage.

Colour Vision looks out of form and is passed over, Rite Of Passage is talented but injury prone which leaves Saddler’s Rock as the most solid betting option.

Last year he finished third in the race and although his form can look inconsistent, that’s because he needs a specific set of circumstance to be at his best.

His first prerequisite is good ground; he has never won in the UK when the word ‘soft’ has been in the going description. Secondly, he needs a strong pace. He took a very keen hold in last year’s Ascot and Doncaster Cups and had nothing left in reserve at the end of either race.

He tried to make the running in Meydan on his last start but his saddle slipped which meant his jockey could only sit still in the last two furlongs.

Dubai Gold Cup

When he does get his ideal conditions then he can be devastating, as he showed when wining the 2011 Doncaster Cup by four lengths, recording a rating of 122 in the process.

The GoingStick on the round course at Ascot is 8.4 compared to 7.7 last year; combined with the stronger pace generated by a big field, Saddler’s rock should run a big race at 9/1 (William Hill). 

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