14th Jun 2016 | Royal Ascot
Coventry Stakes Tips: Monks Stand
Looks exposed but ran a cracker at Brighton, a strong finish earning a sectional adjusted speed rating of 89.
Monks Stand is the most experienced runner in the Coventry (3.05 Ascot) with four starts under his belt but that is seen as a negative by the market, especially with two defeats to his name.
He was desperately unlucky to lose at Brighton on his second start when boxed-in and badly hampered, so I’m happy to overlook that run.
The problem with his form is that he’s only run at Lingfield (on the all-weather) and Brighton and it is easy to criticise the level of opposition he faced. However, at Brighton last month he put in a terrific performance.
After a slow start, he was briefly outpaced when racing down the hill but Ryan Moore gathered his mount together and clocked the fastest closing sectional by 0.36s. An already fast time gets an adjusted speed rating of 89, impressive for a two-year-old.
The soft ground is a concern for most of the runners but it rained prior to Monks Stand win at Brighton and they were kicking big lumps of turf out of the loose ground. Conditions might be similar at Ascot and he is underrated at 50/1 (Skybet).
Back him each-way with Skybet and get 1/5 odds for a top-5 finish.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 02:01 14th Jun, 2016 but subject to change
