Jim Crowley Royal Ascot day one rides blog: 'He should have a favourite chance'

With a big week of horse racing upon us, Jim Crowley shares his Royal Ascot day one rides blog with Coral bettors.

This is always a huge week for the Shadwell team, we don't have the number of runners we used to, but the ones we do bring here should all have chances, as only those we think can run well will be coming here. 

We have a couple of fancied runners In Group Ones later in the week, we're all aware of how hard it is to have one winner here though, so if we can get one on the board early on, that does to a degree take the pressure off a little bit.

My first ride of the week isn’t for Shadwell, it’s for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, and I’m delighted to be on Rock Of Thunder, having been really impressed by him when winning on him on his debut at Leicester last month.  The third and fifth home that day both came out and won on Saturday, so the race is working out brilliantly.

The ground was officially good at Leicester that day, it could be a little bit quicker here so but I'm sure they will have put plenty of water on it and it will be perfect ground for day one, so I'm not concerned if it is a little quicker.  Kevin Ryan is a brilliant trainer who would have a very good handle on his two-year-olds, and I get the feeling this fellow is definitely one of his better ones, and he should have a very good chance here.  

This horse is something of an enigma, he has bags of talent but he’s not an easy ride, as he has a tendency to pull very hard.  He would have gone close to winning last year’s Commonwealth Cup here but for pulling hard, before that he won the trial at the track, so we know he handles Ascot well.

I've been wanting him to run over 5 furlongs for a while, so I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed with his run over that trip at Haydock last time, but there were excuses. They went no pace that day, and certainly not quickly enough for this fellow, and once again he pulled his chance away.

He's definitely well worth a try in this race though, as they should go a proper clip, and that will give us a much better chance of him settling.  There are a lot of familiar names lining up here, and whilst I have the utmost respect for the opposition, I do think this fellow could surprise a few people.  He's a big price and if the race is run to suit him and he settles, he could easily outrun his odds.  It would not be the biggest surprise if he finished in the first four or five, and I certainly expect him to take a big step forward from Haydock.

My first ride of the week in the Shadwell silks is a strong one, on paper at least, as he’s now favourite for the Wolferton, a race we won last year with Israr, who had a similar profile.  Enfjaar ran in the Brigadier Gerard on his reappearance, we left the hood of him that day, and he just didn’t settle, and as a result got tired.

He will come on for that run plenty, and the hood is back on here.  We’re drawn well in two, as always in these big field races here, we’ll need the gaps to come, but I’m really looking forward to it, he should have a favourite’s chance.

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