Had you offered William Haggas at the start of the day Almeraq as the winner of the Group 1 Jubilee Stakes at 28/1 would be his only success from 13 runners he would have snapped your hand off even though the 4yo was the least expected and biggest price of all 13. That’s not to say Almeraq was not extremely highly rated but there was a strong belief that to win a Group 1 he would need cut in the ground.
An offer of 4 winners over the week would also have been gleefully accepted.
From a betting point of view it was a mediocre week. We were marginally ahead thanks to the 5th extra place on Princling but we didn’t back Alobayyah, Opportunity and Almeraq although the reasons for not doing so were completely logical and given the same pre-race conditions, I would again choose to watch without a bet.
There were big disappointments on Saturday – Sober Strike didn’t stay as feared and Binhareer, Lake Forest and Princling all ran well but suffered from being poorly placed in the key point of their races.
Away from Ascot we had three main bets over the week, Great Dream Won by 11L backed from 10/3 to 6/5, Guesstimate 9/1 to 11/2 failed to fire and our Nap on Saturday Divine Knight backed from 6/1-9/4 at Ayr pulled to hard in a slowly ran race but stayed on to finish 3rd and provided a small profit from the place money.
On Sunday Orionis bids for black type in the Listed contest at Pontefract in the same race that last season Santorini Star was well beaten. She has 6lb and 5lb to make up with the front two in the market and it feels like finishing in the places and getting some black type will be sufficient.
There is nothing of interest on Monday and Tuesday so we can draw breath and look ahead to some potential opportunities at the big Newcastle 3 day fixture and the Irish Derby meeting later this week.
No Bets Recommended Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
REFA Hag Tag 2026.
Chrysalis Consortium 
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