17:00 Royal Ascot: Caravan to roll on for Sheikh Fahad
Published:The maroon and gold silks of Sheikh Fahad Al Thani’s Qatar Racing operation are an increasingly visible presence at the big meetings and Royal Ascot has been no exception, with juveniles Extortionist and Kiyoshi scoring big-race victories during the week. That winning run could be set to continue with the very fairly-weighted Caravan Rolls On in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes.
Seven of the last 10 winners of the final-day’s penultimate race carried 9st or over and perched right upon that division is the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Caravan Rolls On (8/1), the mount of Jamie Spencer.
The son of Hernando sealed a hat-trick off a mark of 89 three races back and hasn’t been far away in his most recent couple of outings despite starting his winning run off 74 and ending it rated 93.
His last two races were contested over 1m6f and the step back down to 1m4f should be in his favour given he scored two of his hat-trick successes over the shorter distance and won three of his four prior runs at the trip.
A half-length fifth to the re-opposing Sir Graham Wade at Doncaster two races back should be easy to overhaul given he receives a pull in the weights of a full 13lbs with that rival here.
His next run came when dead-heating for a one-and-a-half-length fourth in a hot Newmarket handicap won by Tiger Cliff. That rival went on to finish second in the Ascot Stakes at the Royal meeting next time, with Mubaraza – the bronze medallist in the Newmarket contest – third behind Tiger Cliff in the race.
The form of Caravan Rolls On’s last race was further franked by the second De Rigeur winning at Haydock on his next run.
The five-year-old with some reliably solid form has previously proved his liking for Ascot when scoring under Spencer in handicap company last September and finds himself very feasibly weighted to repeat the dose.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
