There’s been a shower or two but it’s still not likely that the favourite Trueshan, who was pulled out of the Gold Cup on Thursday because of the fast ground, will run in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at 6.10pm later today. Zoe Bird of Sky Sports Racing caught up with trainer Alan King who wasn’t sounding positive.
Today’s line up plus tips
Greg Wood
- 2.30pm – Chesham Stakes 7f … Alfred Munnings
- 3.05pm – Jersey Stakes 7f … Star Girls Aalmal
- 3.40pm – Hardwicke Stakes 1m 4f … Hurricane Lane
- 4.20pm – Platinum Jubilee Stakes 6f … Highfield Princess (nb)
- 5.00pm – Wokingham Stakes (Handicap) 6f … Blackrod (nap)
- 5.35pm – Golden Gates Stakes (Handicap) 1m 2f … Honiton
- 6.10pm – Queen Alexandra Stakes 2m 5f 143y … Falcon Flight
More non-runners
No 8 Glen Shiel (4.20pm)
No 11 Charmain (5.35pm)
Royal Procession (2pm)
1st Carriage
The Duke of Kent
Mr. Alexander Dudgeon
Mrs. Alexander Dudgeon
Mr. George Broughton
2nd Carriage
Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Mr. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Professor Douglas Antczak
Mrs. Douglas Antczak
3rd Carriage
Sir Michael Rake
Lady Rake
Mr. Guy Henderson
Mrs. Guy Henderson
4th Carriage
Mr. Toby Lawes
Ms Clare Alexander
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas White
Mrs. Thomas White
Michael Owen hasn’t got there yet but seems to be enjoying himself.
With the news that the Queen will not be at Ascot today it’s nearly time for the royal procession details. And so, of course, it’s also the time when I mention the Serpentine gallery exhibition by artist Mark Wallinger I saw back in 1994 when one of his installations, called ‘Royal Ascot’, consisted of a series of video monitors on top of wheeled flight cases, each isolating the royal carriage’s leisurely progress down the track on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (respectively, as it was then) of the meeting with the added TV commentary.
The point Wallinger was making is that the difference from day to day was barely discernible but what has been different this week has been the absence of the Queen. There were no cheers for Prince Charles and Camilla on the first days, a fact that was commented on, but there were plenty of them for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge yesterday. Ed Chamberlin on ITV Racing said: “Ascot and the sport of horse racing need [the Cambridges] to engage.”
Queen misses Royal Ascot for first time in her reign
The confirmation just in that the Queen won’t be attending the races on Saturday means this is the first time in her long reign that she has missed the whole of Royal Ascot. Her trainers have pulled out the stops to provide her with a winner this week but failed so far with two near misses on Thursday. Her only runner today is Kings Lynn in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes (4.20pm) but he is an outsider at 40-1. The Telegraph have the full story here.
👑 The Queen will today miss the final day of Royal Ascot, marking the first time she has failed to attend the spectacle in her 70-year reign https://t.co/SpK7APgeWB
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 18, 2022
Non-runners
Don’t put these on your betting slips. They’re not turning up.
5.35pm Golden Gates Handicap
15 Jimi Hendrix (Self Certificate (Tired after running already this week)
6.10pm Queen Alexandra Stakes
2 Earlofthecotswolds (Self Certificate – Sore)
Going news
As you were … the going for day five of Royal Ascot is Good to Firm (again).
GoingStick readings at 8am:
Stands side: 9.0
Centre: 8.7
Far side: 9.0
Round: 7.4
I’ll let Jim explain
Going stick this am suggests far/near side (both 9.0) are quicker than middle (8.7). 9.0 is fastest reading this week.
— Mr Jim McGrath (@McGracing) June 18, 2022
Preamble
Greg Wood
Good morning from Ascot and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the final day of the 2022 Royal meeting, when the Queen will have a runner in the feature event – the Platinum Jubilee Stakes – and the prizes for the leading trainer and jockey at the meeting are (just about) still up for grabs.
King’s Lynn, the Queen’s runner in the big race, is a 40-1 shot and it will be a big surprise if he proves to be good enough to emerge at the front of a record 27-runner field which includes top-class sprinters from four countries, but stranger things have happened already at this meeting, with a 50-1 shot winning the opening race on Thursday.
There are much likelier winners, though, including Home Affairs, one of Australia’s top sprinters, whose recent form was franked when Nature Strip, a stable companion at the Chris Waller yard, took the King’s Stand Stakes on Tuesday. Campanelle, a Royal Ascot winner for trainer American trainer Wesley Ward in each of the last two seasons, is also in the field, while William Haggas’s lightly-raced filly, Sacred, is another fancied runner.
Ryan Moore emerged as a clear favourite to be the meeting’s top jockey on Friday, when he rode a double on Meditate and Changingoftheguard which also put Aidan O’Brien, their trainer, in pole position to lift the trainers’ prize.
Moore has five winners over the first four days, and a big chance to put the contest to bed when he rides Alfred Munnings (again for O’Brien) in today’s openers. William Buick – who is on three winners alongside Danny Tudhope – has yet to win the prize, but has a hot favourite of his own in Hurricane Lane, last year’s Irish Derby and St Leger winner, in the Hardwicke Stakes (3.40). He also has decent chances on Noble Truth (3.05) and Creative Force, in the feature at 4.20, so all is not lost for Charlie Appleby’s stable jockey.
Appleby himself is one of four trainers on two winners this week, alongside Richard Fahey, Jane Chapple-Hyam and William Haggas, which puts them all one behind O’Brien. A good day for Buick could therefore be a very good day for Appleby, who has less ground to make up to top his table.
So there’s plenty to play for on the final day, and who knows, perhaps the Queen will decide to make the trip down from Windsor Castle, as she did on the final day 12 months ago.
You can, as ever, follow all the action live on the blog, from the first at 2.30 to the last knockings in the Queen Alex at 6.10 at the end of a blistering and memorable week.
