Tuesday sees the 4th leg of the Global Sprint Challenge and the 5 furlong King's Stand Stakes is a truly global affair with Australian horses taking 3 of the last 5 runnings and the French bred Equiano winning in 2008 and last year in 2010. American trainers Wes Ward and Todd Pletcher run Holiday For Kitten and Bridgetown respectively and we also see the 2nd appearance on British turf of the 'Budapest Bullet' - Hungarian winning machine Overdose. The British horses aren't putting up the strongest resistance with Kingsgate Native the best proven, although the filly Astrophysical Jet looked highly promising last year and could still be open to some improvement.
Our selection isn't homegrown, however we also don't need to travel too far - just across the Irish Sea where we find the highest rated horse in the field according to the official British Handicapper, rated one pound superior to Kingsgate Native but at quadruple the price. Tracey Collins' 4 year old Arctic was highly promising as a 2 year old with 3 victories including a Listed race and as a wide margin winner of a Group 3. Arctic only made it to the track 3 times last season but came a close enough 5th in France's premier sprint the Prix de L'Abbaye on its 2nd start. With some rain forecast to continue through to Monday over Ascot the ground on Tuesday could be very slightly on the slow side of good which would very much suit the selection and be against the Australian and US raiders.
Arctic may need the run and if conditions are getting towards firm ground he may end up as an also ran but the current odds available (40/1 with the bookmakers & 70/1+ on Betfair) make this a risk worth taking especially as these odds could end up much shorter if the rain keeps coming.
Selection: Arctic each way 40/1+
Kumarbaz
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