Juliette's Weekly Frolic
It's not entirely the done thing to go ' royal ' to Ascot — that is, if you intend writing about the experience. Far better to impart the joys of a jellied eel on the Heath than a lobster in the Members' car park, while bartering with a bookie in Tatts offers greater credibility on the tipping front than sipping champagne with the William Hickey circus. However, if you began your Ascot career munching toffee apples in the Silver Ring, where else do you go to complete your education? Ramming on the straw hat, packing the nicnic hamper and acting the ' lady ' for a few fleeting hours has undeliable attractions for all but the most hardened racing ladies and while the weather could certainly have been warmer improvement on the soakings of '71. France is undoubtedly the place to live if you happen to own a three-year-old thoroughbred. In less than a month this country stages three 'classics,' each offering something in the region of £90,000 prize money. Hard to Beat who won the first of these races, the Prix du Jockey Club, may hit the gold trail once more this Sunday at St Cloud, with Lester again in attendance, but the presence of Rheingold, should provide an interesting link-up of anglo-French form. The day before the latter's Epsom conqueror, Roberto, attempts a Derby double at the Curragh. Since the Irish Hospitals boosted the race to Grade 1 status, it has attracted the cream of the market but Roberto appears a ridiculous priced favourite considering the question mark hanging over his recovery from Epsom, and, in any case, English Derby winners have a habit of losing this race. Twice-raced, Ballymore has the assistance of Piggott, the Frenchman, Lyphard, that of blinkers but Britain is about due for a win here and we have a strong enough hand in Steel Pulse and Scottish Rifle. The latter came out just the better at Epsom despite taking the notorious hill none too fluently, and on the evidence of his Goodwood success over Pentland Firth, there could be a lot less between him and Roberto than the prices indicate — 20-1 is, anyway, an appetising offer.
Not to be outdone by these rich races on her doorstep, England offers her own ' Derby ' this Saturday. A Joe Coral sponsored two-mile handicap for three-year-olds and upwards hardly accords with the accepted idea of a classic, but few Northumbrians would swap their 'Pitmen's Derby' for all the international races rolled into one. It's over twenty-five years since a colt of classic vintage won this Newcastle contest but the one three-year-old in Saturday's line-up ran prominently for a long way at Epsom and with a concession of 17Ib could conceivably beat Parthian Plain, who was subected to a fairly hard race when buffeted out of the firing line in last week's Ascot Stakes.
As for the girls, this Friday sees the fourth renewal of Haydock's Lancashire Oaks. The fields to date have been pitifully small in relation to the prize money offered and it is. therefore, encouraging to see the four-day
entry running into double figures. Ribblesdale ' heroine, Star Ship, will be a popular favourite though I'm loath to desert my oftsupported Angle Beam now that she appears to be finding her form, following a fast finishing sixth in the fillies' classic.
With five meetings dotted round the countryside this weekend there are a host of horses to watch for, but I fancy few more than Bold and Free in the Gosforth Park Cup at Newcastle, on Friday night. Fireside Chat, Native Bazaar and Masingh, who deposited Piggott on the Ascot turf last Saturday, provide strong opposition, but David Robinson's three-year-old recently gave weight and a beating to "Cork and Orrerry " runner-up, Pearl Staf. Assets: £109.50. Outlay: £3 to win Palladium and Bold and Free and E2 ew Scottish Rifle.
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