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And will Stradivarius be music to our ears Thursday?
All you needed on Wednesday was Love, Love, Love as the wonderful mare came through to win the Prince of Wales's Stakes G1. Although she was resuming we can assume that she was very well prepared and while she emptied her bucket of water very quickly it was a hot day.
Lord North was scratched because of the ground so James Fanshawe's Audarya under William Buick made the most of the opportunity to run well and finish second with the winner's stablemate Armory third of the six runners.
Earlier the day got off to a flying start when Quick Suzy was very quick indeed winning the Queen Mary G2 for Gavin Cromwell and Gary Carrol having started at 15/2. The flying American sprinter Twilight Gleaming was 1 ¼ lengths away in second and Cheerupsleepyjean 50/1 was third, and the other American runner Artos 4th.
The Queen's Vase saw Kemari salute for Charlie Appleby and William Buick. It seems Kemari had been a bit of a handful as a 2yo and had the snip and that seems to have done the trick as he is now beautifully mannered and Buick had been enthusiastic about him coming to Ascot. Wordsworth was 1 ½ lengths back in second and Stowell and Benaud followed. Kyprios was scratched after he had an argument with the starting stalls and lost.
The Duke of Cambridge saw Lady Bowthorpe's colours lowered by a rampaging Indie Angel 22/1 for the Gosdens and Dettori. Queen Power was a short head away third and Champers Elysees fourth. Our roughie Valeria Messalina was doing well when probably tired and hung sbadly to put paid to her chances.
So Thursday will bring a change in the weather with showers forecast and the chance of a thunderstorm not ruled out. The afternoon kicks off with the Norfolk Stakes over 1000m with 16 runners and it is very open. The Aidan O'Brien Cadamoto is on 5/1, the American Lucci on 9/2 and Project Dante 7/1 but they have only run once although they won onn debut. We are putting in a couple of runners with a bit more experience in Second Wind for William Haggas and Tom Marquand who is on 12/1 and is unbeaten after 2 starts, and Andrea Vesalius from Joseph O'Brien's yard on 18/1 – by Caravaggio and named after the famous Anatomist.
The Hampton Court has 10 3yos competing over the 2000m with William Haggas's Mohaafeth hoping to get compensation for having to miss the Derby. He's on 15/8 with Jim Crowley as usual on board. Movin Times is on 3/1, One Ruler 5/1 and Roman Empire 8/1.
The Ribblesdale G2 for the girls is over 2400m and has 13 runners. Sir Michael Stoute's Noon Star has James Doyle in the irons and is on 2/1. Gloria Mundi for the Gosdens-Dettori is on 9/2 and Divinity 5/1. We have a roughie here in the form of Nicest, trained by Donnacha O'Brien and Gavin Ryan will be on board. She's by American Pharoah out of the lovely mare Chiquita (Irish version) which is a nice pedigree and she's worthy of a small each way.
The Gold Cup – what is there left to say about Stradivarius? He's done it all and is in good form so we hear. 6/5 is the current quote. Trueshan is on 10/3 for Alan King and Hollie Doyle and Subjectivist is certainly well in this and is on 11/2 for Mark Johnston and Joe Fanning. We have two roughies here – Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment with Joseph booking Tom Marquand for the ride. He's had two warm up races and has been set for this so 25/1 looks good, and there is a useful German raider here from the stable of Andreas Suborics (where the current German Derby favourite is to be found) and it is Rip Van Lips on 66/1 with James Doyle booked for the ride.
Let's hope the weather stays kind at least even if we don't have the glorious sunshine of the last two days.