Juliette's weekly frolic
A funny thing happened at o'clock last Thursday afternoon — Malleny won the Newbury Spring Cup for the second year running and my assets arrived back in the ' nineties '. And so to Royal Ascot, with high hopes of hitting the hundred. After a 262-year run there's not much left to be said on the subject, the basics remain unaltered, though this year some of the frills are new. They've altered the day of the ' Ribblesdale ' (to Tuesday), the time of the ' King's Stand' (to 80 minutes earlier) and renamed the ' New' the ' Norfolk' (for obvious reasons). Lord Abergavenny is in, picture hats apparently out while Moss Bros bravely branches into ladies' headgear. And, of course, there's the prize money — up by E6,000 this time, but despite
its personal boosting to E25,000, the Gold Cup field's a far cry from 1829 when two Derby victors, a Leger hero and Oaks' heroine took on the previous year's winner. Today we have a three-cornered affair featuring the. Prix du Cadran scorer, Lassalle, Noel Murless's The Admiral, and Celtic Cone. The last-named, victor of half-a-dozen hurdles and two Royal Ascot marathons, has only to repeat his Yorkshire Cup victory over The Admiral to be hailed a new Brown Jack, or at least a Trelawny, in the headlines next day. Statues and commemorative races may take more time, but the horse has already featured in one Sunday newspaper, which claimed some telepathic faith healing had done wonders for his blood disorders.
On the one hand the Royal Hunt Cup is a race to steer well clear of; on the other it ,offers a golden opportunity for a long-priced winner, at least for those with the patience, skill and luck to ferret him out, Read the newspapers thoroughly enough and you'll have a con vincing reason for backing most of the Held, but if preferring to reduce the numbers to financially manageable proportions elimination must be conducted on a ruthless scale. Personally I've spread my pennies in three directions, Polacca, Spring Stone and Anak Malaysia, but professionally there can only be one choice. Polacca has had two promising warm-ups but even with Richard Marshall's allowance must carry a steadying 8.13. No weight or age problems for the other pair — 4-year-olds around the 8 stone mark being the ideal credentials. These two also share the distinction of both running second in a Royal Meeting race last year and failing to win ever since. Some recommendation, but after much soul-searching I feel obliged to stand by ' Anak ' whose string of dispiriting noughts owe me a great deal of money. A recent pipping by Offenbach was hardly given a boost by that horse's dismal effort in Saturday's Roll Up Race, but it would be in character for Eric Cousins to at last have him in good nick for the big day.
Gentlemen appear only too ready to forgive a lady in the public eye and I suppose it Was predictable that they would once more be going potty over Jacinth for Wednesday's Coronation Stakes — it should at least ensure a nice price about Cloonagh. For my part, I could get equally excited over a fellow named Apple King in the earlier Jersey Stakes and quite bowled over by the charms of Rapid River were he to start for Thursday's Cork and Orrery. Even in the following day's King's Stand his chances could not be entirely discounted.
Assets:£99.28. Outlay: £2 to Win, Celtic Cone, Anak Malaysia, Cloonagh, Apple King & Rapid River.
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