Royal Ascot day one tips: 10/1 Man Of Promise to deliver in King’s Stand Stakes – Jones Knows | Racing News

June 13, 2022 admin

Our tipster Jones Knows has four bets to attack on day one of Royal Ascot with a headline 10/1 tip. Watch every race live on Sky Sports Racing.

With five places on offer in the each-way market from Sky Bet and two very vulnerable market leaders, the King’s Stand Stakes (3:40) is ripe for a couple of plays at bigger prices on day one of Royal Ascot.

Golden Pal and Nature Strip – both overseas raiders – bring healthy ratings to the table but all their form have come on turning tracks where their natural speed can be seen to best affect.

Take for example Golden Pal, who is blistering from the gates but has been beaten twice on straight tracks in his ventures to the UK.

He doesn’t exactly scream ‘back me’ at 2/1 with Sky Bet. Neither does Nature Strip, who has never travelled away from Australia and it’s hard to be categorically sure his form-lines are that much stronger than this field. This is ripe for an upset.

Man Of Promise (10/1 with Sky Bet – Bet Here!) has to prove he is effective away from Meydan but he has top-class form to put him right in the mix if he takes to this Ascot test.

His Group Three beating of A Case Of You in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint trial in March was seriously impressive and if we use the ‘forgive one run’ theory, where he underperformed slightly on Dubai World Cup night, we have a horse who should not be double figures for a Group One over a trip that looks perfect.

That run probably came too soon for a horse that is best when fresh, as his finishing effort flattened out when in the perfect position to attack the eventual winner A Case Of You.

Charlie Appleby’s charge comes with a few dangers of potentially blowing out but that’s fine with a horse of his talent at the current prices. He is an exciting punting prospect.

I’ve also got to have a saver on Khaadem (22/1 with Sky Bet – Bet Here!) with Jamie Spencer booked to ride. It looks a match made in heaven.

Spencer’s patient style should be suited to this strong traveller who has some top-class form on the ground when winning the Stewards Cup at Goodwood and finishing a close fourth in the Diamond Jubilee in 2020.

He arrives following a speedy win in the Palace House Stakes, where he was favoured by some track bias that day, but I’d be expecting a complete change of tactics under Spencer, who will ride him cold and nurse him into contention in a race where they are likely to go very fast with Golden Pal and Winter Power setting the fractions.

No-one in the weighing room does that better than Spencer at Ascot, where he boasts a 36 per cent win and place strike rate over the five and six furlong straight track.

The strength at the head of the Coventry Stakes (3:05) market needs respecting with the powerhouse Aidan O’Brien yard carrying the horses in a race where traditionally the market gets it spot on.

Just simply backing the favourite in this race in the last 27 running’s would have yielded a +19 profit to one point stakes at a 44 per cent strike rate.

Blackbeard and Age Of Kings will have to see off Persian Force – a horse who has been likened to Canford Cliffs by his trainer Richard Hannon. Along with the big talk, his performances on the track, where he is unbeaten in two starts, certainly back that theory up.

However tempting Persian Force was to side with, this is a very deep race and I’ve got little interest trying to predict which one of the three fancied horses will come out on top so I’m getting creative for a bet.

The play is to back Royal Scotsman to beat Bradsell in a match race – no matter what happens in the race, all we need is Royal Scotsman to finish in front of Bradsell. The 11/10 with Sky Bet looks big to me.

Bradsell absolutely bolted up at York on debut but will find a much different set of race conditions here.

The level of opposition is much deeper and the ground will be less testing than at York, where he clearly was the best horse but relished the softer surface more than his rivals.

His dam Russian Punch put up her career-best performance on soft ground when winning a Listed race at Newbury on the only time she encountered soft ground, so it’s not a surprise to see her offspring handle cut.

He may struggle to live with the raw speed of many of his rivals, including Royal Scotsman, who did tempt me to play him each-way outright with six places on offer with Sky Bet, such was his authority of his win at Goodwood.

That form looks up to scratch, with the fourth Show Respect winning easily next time out.

Trainer Paul Cole has had five horses run in this race starting 10/1 or shorter with a finishing record of 1-3-3-4-6, showing he knows when he’s got one capable of running to a top-class figure.

His lad can beat Bradsell and I’m sticking that bet in a double with another later on the card.

I’m an absolute sucker for a horse returning to the scene of a previous win and JUAN ELCANO looks set to go close in the Wolferton Handicap (5:35) – a year on from winning this very race for trainer Kevin Ryan.

He arrives with race conditions very much in his favour, having already had a run to blow away the cobwebs at Sandown while the ground and draw in seven are both in his favour.

Yes, he’s a year older and this race is usually taken by a four-year-old (13 of the last 18 runnings) but his record when there is firm in the description is just too strong to ignore from an each-way bet perspective.

Including winning this race last year, Juan Elcano has gone down a head in the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes, finished fifth in the 2000 Guineas and ran some top-class horses close in two valuble Group Twos as a two-year-old.

He looks rock solid to run his race so the 7/2 on offer on the Royal Scotsman to beat Bradsell and Juan Elcano to finish in the first five is a confident play.