Victoria Cup Tip: Gilgamesh

Four-year-olds have won the last three renewals of the Victoria Cup (4.00 Ascot) and a progressive horse hiding soemthign from the handicapper early in the season makes logical sense.

Gilgamesh hasn’t stood much racing over the past couple of seasons but he’s won four of his seven starts and is a useful handicapper. He first caught my eye in February 2017 when winning at Wolverhampton with a fast closing sectional and was a winning tip for this column when again winning impressively on the all-weather in March 2017.

His seasonal reappearance at Newbury was disappointing but George Scott said the gelding was unsuited by the soft ground. This afternoon he drops back in trip and has much faster underfoot conditions. He’s won over 7f on good-to-firm before and horses that have run well on the all-weather often enjoy Ascot’s turf. Stall 23 might also be beneficial and he’s a good bet at 22/1 with Paddy Power paying 6 places at 1/5 odds.