Royal Ascot 2015: Windsor Castle Stakes preview (17.35)
Steady Pace has some solid form to his name, and looks decent value to land the 5f Windsor Castle Stakes which rounds off the first day of Royal Ascot.
The Saeed Bin Suroor trained colt looked a smart prospect when scoring on debut at Ascot, showing plenty of early dash to chase the leaders before being produced on the stands side rail at the furlong marker and quickening clear to beat Beaverbrook by 2 3/4 lengths.
It was a most taking performance which marked out Steady Pace as being above average, and the form of the race has worked out well.
The runner-up is a really solid sort who has scored since, and the third home King Of Rooks is a very exciting prospect who has won both his subsequent starts in scintillating style.
Steady Pace was sent off the well-backed 7/4 favourite for the National Stakes at Sandown on the back of that success, but failed to confirm the form with King Of Rooks and finished third.
However, it was a very messy race and Steady Pace found himself trapped out wide throughout and still showed distinct signs of inexperience.
I am convinced that the son of Dark Angel is better than what he showed that day, and Steady Pace is definitely worth another chance to confirm the huge promise of his debut success.
Soapy Aitken is unbeaten in two starts and the Clive Cox trained colt created a good impression in the last of those when scoring at Windsor.
The son of Pastoral Pursuits fell out of the stalls, but showed penty of early dash to make up the lost ground before showing a smart turn of foot to win going away by two lengths from Silver Wings.
It was a performance which suggested Soapy Aitken had a huge engine, and his handler has made no secret of the fact that he rates him very highly.
American handler Wes Ward sent out Hootenanny to land last year’s renewal, and his Ruby Notion cannot be ruled out following an impressive success on debut.
The filly showed smart of foot to score by 3 1/4 lengths in a claiming contest at Churchill Downs, and has similar profile to Ward’s Strike A Tiger who sprang a 33/1 surprise in the 2009 running of this contest.
Strike the Tiger had won her only previous start at Churchill Downs for a claiming price of $30k, and Ruby Notion’s victory at the venue came under a claiming tag of $40k.
Coral betting tip: Don’t let the name fool you, Steady Pace has real claims of winning this last race on day one of Royal Ascot.
