Top racing from Ascot
Will Hawk Wing continue to impress in tomorrow’s Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot?
Hawk Wing (pictured), the most hyped horse of the year, reverts to a mile in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot and must turn in a championship display if he is to keep his ‘super-horse’ reputation in tact.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt finished second in the 2000 Guineas and the Derby before carrying off a sub-standard Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.
Most recently he had a very hard race when going down in that spine-tingling finish with Grandera in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. At odds of 4-9 he makes little appeal as such a punishing encounter may have left its mark. Where Or When, at 8-1, looks a better proposition.
If Hawk Wing does win with his head in his chest, we should still be able to enjoy the champion we have been led to believe he is. But this time Where Or When, who got stopped in his tracks in a final furlong shemozzle at Goodwood last time, could spring a surprise.
Where Or When was heavily backed to win the Celebration Mile and would have beaten Tillerman and co if he had not been shut in. Kevein Darley, who rides again, came in afterwards and said he was unlucky.
Tillerman will again be a big danger. But if Where Or When gets the rub of the green he could provide a major upset by toppling Hawk Wing.
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O’Brien runs Reach For The Moon, who was withdrawn when favourite for the Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh, in the Meon Valley Stud Fillies’ Mile. But there is still a cloud hanging over some of the O’Brien horses following the coughing epidemic which laid his stable low in the summer.
Air Adair, a Salisbury winner for the John Gosden stable, could take this Group 1 event from Soviet Song and Summitville.
Gosden’s Demonstrate is a big tip for the competitive Tote Trifecta Stakes and Malhub, who loves the prevailing fast conditions, could complete a memorable day for the Manton stable in the Brunswick Diadem Stakes.
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