Horse Racing Betting Tips: Ocean’s odds of turning the tide on Enable are tempting
EVEN though the scorching temperatures of the last few days are set to give way to rain tomorrow, it may not be enough to cool the hottest jockey on the planet at the moment.
Frankie Dettori’s victory aboard Star Catcher in last weekend’s Irish Oaks was his eighth Group One winner in less than two months and his mount, ENABLE, is the odds-on favourite to make that nine in tomorrow’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (3.40pm) at Ascot.
The five-year-old mare made an emphatic return to racing after a 245-day break to land the Coral Eclipse at Sandown earlier in the month, which was remarkably her eighth Group One victory recorded at eight different tracks.
Trainer John Gosden has reported her to be in rude health at home and the return to 1m4f, a trip over which she boasts a perfect eight from eight record, is another huge plus.
She ran out an emphatic winner of this very race back in 2017 when she relished the rain-softened ground, so will have no problems should the heavens open either.
In fact, the only real negative is her price at just 8/13.
She faces a real test tomorrow in the shape of CRYSTAL OCEAN who looks to have improved again over the winter.
The son of Sea The Stars finished a neck runner-up to Poet’s Word in this 12 months ago before filling that same spot behind both Enable at Kempton and Cracksman in the Champion Stakes last October.
A reappearance confidence booster at Sandown in April was followed by another smart performance in a Group Three at Newbury in May.
Yet, it was the manner of his Group One Prince Of Wales’s Stakes victory at Royal Ascot that marked him down as a serious improver.
The combination of 1m2f and soft ground could well have caught him out, but he stayed on strongly to repel the likes of Magical, Waldgeist and the sadly ill-fated Sea Of Class.
That win earnt him an official rating of 127, which actually puts him a couple of pounds ahead of Enable as the world’s best racehorse despite what the betting market suggests.
There is no getting away from the fact that he will have to step up to lower the colours of the mare, and Frankie Dettori was pretty quick to pick the favourite having partnered both on their most recent outings.
It simply comes down to price and at 11/4 with Coral I would much rather side with Crystal Ocean on value grounds.
Bookmakers certainly have the correct favourite in Enable, I would just question whether she should be as short as she is and Crystal Ocean as big as he is.
Whatever happens, it promises to be an intriguing duel between two of the best middle-distance horses in training.
You have to go back to Galileo in 2001 to find the last Investec Derby winner to follow-up in this race and it is one of his sons in Anthony Van Dyck who bids to right an 18-year wrong.
He was set an impossible task when given too much to do in the Irish Derby last time and is another who won’t mind the rain.
Whether he has the class or speed to mix it with the big two remains to be seen and I’d happily take him on at the prices.
The return to this trip will certainly aid Waldgeist and I can see him going well at a big price, but my vote for third place goes to DEFOE who seems to have improved with every start this season.
He followed his battling victory over Kew Gardens in the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom with success in the Hardwicke Stakes over this course and distance at the Royal meeting.
This will certainly require more, but I could see him snatching a place on the podium at 12/1 with Ladbrokes.
BILL ESDAILE’S KING GEORGE 1-2-3
- Crystal Ocean
- Enable
- Defoe