Saturday racing tips: King George day picks at Ascot from Sky Sports Racing presenter John Hunt
Sky Sports Racing’s John Hunt has three win selections for Ascot on Saturday, plus an each-way pick in the King George.
An absolutely stunning day’s racing stretches out ahead of us at Ascot on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Racing.
It’s a delicious King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes but the supporting action is right out of the top drawer and, with showers forecast right up until the start of racing on Saturday, I’m really excited about several soft ground-loving horses.
Top of the list of fancies for the day is SUNWAY who contests the Flexjet Pat Eddery Stakes (4.15) over seven furlongs.
His debut at Sandown was visually electric, rider Oisin Murphy purred about it afterwards and there is no surprise that he retains the ride. Time will probably tell that he didn’t beat a great deal that day, but the manner of the victory was compelling all the same.
Being by Galiway out of the mare Kensea makes him a full brother to wonderful Sealiway who won the Jean Luc Lagadere by a stunning eight lengths as a two-year-old on really testing ground. As an older horse, Sealiway will be most fondly remembered for his Champion Stakes here at Ascot, that victory again secured on soft ground.
So, in Sunway we have a horse with all the talent racing on ground the looks like it will suit perfectly. I can’t wait to see him run.
LOWTON contests the Betfred Handicap (4.50) over the straight mile and is another horse who will have conditions to suit. His narrow victory at Leicester came with cut in the ground and he is by Pivotal whose two most celebrated offspring have been soft ground lovers Addeybb and Farhh.
Lowton also looks to be a horse crying out for the step up to a mile. His second win at Newcastle was all the more meritorious as he was steadied at the start and had plenty to do two out. It was a smart effort to get up to win and he showed a terrific, head-down attitude there too. Trainer Ed Bethell has his horses in fine form and Lowton is emerging as one of the stars of that yard.
Sky Sports Racing went down to William Muir’s yard to meet the team behind King George champion Pyledriver as he prepares to return to Ascot on Saturday
The Moet and Chandon International Stakes (3.00) is as strong as ever both numerically and in terms of quality and VAFORTINO is rightly regarded as one of the favourites and can resume winning ways.
He loves Ascot having won last year’s Victoria Cup and turned up again this year with an excellent third behind Rebel Territory and fellow big race fancy, Biggles.
Clearly fine margins will decide the outcome but I’m hoping the masterstroke from trainer Kevin Phillipart de Foy is the booking of 5lb claiming rider Kaiya Fraser, who has made really nice progress once again this season and can hopefully secure a first Ascot win.
The King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (4.30) is a belter and like everyone else, I can’t wait to see how things pan out but the massive double-figure odds for LUXEMBOURG just look plain wrong.
He has only run over the mile and a half once before, in Alpinista’s Arc on really testing ground so he cannot be judged fairly on that alone. He is well worth another chance especially when you consider how strongly he finished when winning last year’s Irish Champion Stakes and this season’s Tattersalls Gold Cup, really strong at the line on both occassions. I’m expecting him to run a really big race.
John Hunt’s King George day tips…
SUNWAY – 4.15 ASCOT – 2pts win
LOWTON – 4.50 ASCOT – 1pt win
VAFORTINO – 3.00 ASCOT – 1pt win
LUXEMBOURG – 4.30 ASCOT – 0.5pts each-way
