the racing newsletter

SNEAK PREVIEW! 17.00 2M 4F ASCOT STAKES HERITAGE HANDICAP Okay, ya’ll know why we love this race (and no, it’s not just because COLTRANE once won it). It’s the first long-distance race of this beautiful week-long meeting, and it’s effectively a weighted, fast-ground bumper. If you check out the list of winning trainers over the last decade, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Cheltenham bumper: Henry de Bromhead, Nicky Henderson, Ian Williams and Alan King have all won it. Stick with the jumps trainers. Favourites have a terrible record in this race, but we think you'd be foolish to dismiss REACHING HIGH on that basis alone for one main reason: Willie the Wizard Mullins. We bet this lad in this race last year, but he endured a nightmare passage — in fact, he didn't get a passage at all. Ryan Moore found nothing but horses' backsides in front of him throughout, and the horse coasted home on the bridle without ever being asked for maximum effort. As a result, we still don't know just how good he could be since moving from Stoutey’s. He’s bred to be a Royal Ascot winner - by the superstar SEA THE STARS out of the Queens Gold Cup winning mare ESTIMATE. Whether it’s Cheltenham, the Derby or Royal Ascot, you MUST take note of Joseph O’Brien’s horses. He is absolutely f*cking clinical when it comes to the major festivals, and last year’s Irish Cesarewitch winner, PUTURHANDSTOGETHER, is prominent in the market once again as the second favourite. We have a soft spot for this lad because we backed him in the Fred Winter in 2025. Today’s race will be more of a stamina test than he’s faced before and quite simply we’re not sure if he stays it. He is one of SEVEN runners for Joseph O’Brien. BUNTING and BEYLERBEYI face off again after their battle down the home straight in the Ces last year. There is a big swing in the weights now in favour of BUNTING. You can ignore all of BUNTING’s last runs, he absolutely needs it like the road so anything on worse than good won’t read true. Let’s look at JOB’s other six runners (lol). GALILEO DAME loves soft ground (won’t get it today), KIZLYAR was a good winner last time out and is very unexposed so could be anything, GLENROYAL is related to the winner of this race in 2018, COMFORT ZONE was third in this last year but either has been cheating to get the mark down or lost his way, SMALL FRY looks a different horse since leaving Gary Moore’s and looks a player and DEFIANTLY is interesting. DEFIANTLY is really unexposed and bloody well bred on the dam side. Of the rest, TIM TOE is a fascinating runner for DE BROMHEAD. He’s only had three flat runs and his last win was over a damn mile… This race is two and a half times that! The sire bangs in NH winners and his dam side is laden with stamina so we have no doubt he will be fine at this trip - it’s just whether he is good enough! ALL IN YOU has never run on the flat for Greatrex but won a couple in France. He has a nice pedigree and will enjoy the fast ground. Verdict: Joseph O’Brien has seven runners, but we think he leaves here rosy-cheeked with his tail between his legs. We’re taking them all on. The favourite, REACHING HIGH, could be tough to beat. He is trained by the Wizard, after all, who would like nothing more than to deliver a winner for His Majesty. But we like another: TIM TOE. Reading Ronan Whelan’s quotes after TIM TOE’s victories, it’s clear he thinks a lot of him. He’s been absolutely purring over the horse. Phrases such as “future on the Flat”, “a lot of ability” and “exciting... a bit of class” have all been used to describe him, and we’re listening. Now, his last win over a mile is a little confusing given this is a marathon trip, but Henry de Bromhead knows what he’s doing — and he won this race last year. TIM TOE’s pedigree is loaded with stamina, so the trip should prove no problem. In fact, the fact he’s already won over a mile might just mean he’s a fucking freak.