There Is More to Come From Frankie at His Final Royal Ascot
All good things must come to an end, and Saturday is the final day of Royal Ascot 2023. Once again, the Berkshire track stages seven races, and racing gets underway at 2.30 pm. ITV will broadcast all the races live and the six-furlong Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes is the centrepiece of the star-studded card.
The action begins with a two-year-old contest. There are six last-time-out winners in the race, and both punters and bookmakers seem to have little idea of the destination of the prize. There is less uncertainty in the 3.05 pm, The Jersey Stakes. Here, Frankie Dettori’s mount, Covey, is the clear favourite.
Frankie Dettori celebrates after winning the Gold Cup on Thursday. Will he ride a winner on his final day at Royal Ascot on Saturday? ©GettyImages
Unraced at two, Covey is chasing a four-timer for the Gosden stables, and this son of Frankel has untold potential. Success at 1/16 odds in a novice race at Newcastle at the start of May proved little, but a subsequent make-all performance in Haydock’s Betfred Silver Bowl Handicap suggests this colt is destined for the top.
Frankie Factor to Give Hukum a Boost
Covey is the first selection in our Saturday Trixie despite reservations about his price being unduly short – due to Dettori taking the mount on this contender on his final ever day riding at Royal Ascot.
The Frankie factor can help boost the odds of our second selection, Hukum, in the Hardwicke Stakes, due off at 4.20 pm. Dettori’s Free Wind – 5/2 in the early betting – has won five of her last six starts. They were all high-class races, but they were restricted to fillies and mares.
But Hukum won a Group-1 when taking last season’s Coronation Cup. He also posted career-best figures when winning the Brigadier Gerard Stakes on his 2023 debut. It was an outstanding performance as he lowered the colours of the 2022 Epsom Derby winner, Desert Crown, over a ten-furlong trip that is not his optimum distance.
Dawn Can Rise for Ryan Moore
The curtain falls on the meeting with the marathon Queen Alexandra Stakes due off at 6.10 pm. Brighton & Hove Charman, Tony Bloom, loves a winner at the sport’s biggest meetings, and his Stratum heads the betting. This Irish-trained horse has something in hand according to official figures but, as a 10-year-old, we are passing this one by.
Preference is for Dawn Rising – priced at 4/1 with the horse racing betting sites – a horse placed in Group-race company on the flat before being off the track for 748 days, gelded, and sold to leading jumps owner JP McManus.
Mixed results have been encountered since. But a pipe-opener over an insufficient 14 furlongs on the flat at Leopardstown a month ago suggests he is ready to strike under Ryan Moore.
