The highlight of Thursday’s action is the Ascot Gold Cup. In the past, the two-and-a-half mile contest was dominated by Yeats (pictured above with Johnny Murtagh after last year’s race), in the same way his namesake dominated the world of stalkery poets. He’s now off having lots of sex which ironically, despite writing the sort of weird poems you’d think girls would like, isn’t something William Butler got much of in his time.
There’s no obvious choice to be the successor to Yeats, but that makes the race all the more interesting. Despite the crap name, Manifest looks to have a touch of class about him, but there are doubts about his stamina, particularly with the shock revelation that this summer is featuring a bit of sun.
The heat and distance are going to test his resolve more than some of the others. If Aidan O’Brien was in charge of the universe – and who knows, he very well might be – Age Of Aquarius would step in to continue the Ballydoyle dominance of the Ascot marathon. At first glance, a seventh place in the Epsom Derby wouldn’t have you selling a kidney to raise funds to finance a bet, but don’t put that bottle of cheap vodka and scalpel away just yet, because when you see that he was nine lengths off the record-breaking Sea The Stars, it’s not so bad. In the knowledge that Yeats was off to sow his wild oats, O’Brien will have been priming Age to take over the crown.
Kasbah Bliss is probably best known for a couple of good performances in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but he’s a very experienced horse on the flat and some of the experience has been the experience of success. He’s already notched up victories in some of the longer flat races on French soil and with his combination of stamina and speed, he’s a real contender. Similar but younger is Rite Of Passage, who is shaping up to be a useful performer over the jumps – his couple of successful forays into the world of Flat racing have suggested potential in the ‘less crap in your way to jump’ code.
Sir Michael Stoute has a very Germanic ‘never write them off’ quality to him so although Ask may not be top class, there’s no better man at getting it right for the big occasion. Kitewood was a valiant second in last year’s St Leger and comfortably kept Kasbah Bliss at bay last month. Anyone who’s a fan of logic might see that as a good sign for the Gold Cup, but over the longer distance he may not have things in his favour.
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