Royal Ascot Saturday

Motawahij is an intriguing runner in the Chesham for a yard which has already had a brace of juvenile winners during the meeting.

Those horses were owned by the Emir of Qatar, and Karl Burke has more royal patronage here as Motawahij is the first UK runner for Saudi Arabia’s leading domestic owner.

Listed as “King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Sons”, the stable is controlled by the late King Abdullah’s son Prince Miteb, whose racing interests have burgeoned in the last couple of years. His stable is by far the most powerful in Riyadh and it will be no surprise if he takes more of an interest in European racing.

Motawahij ran very well to be second to the highly-touted Catalyse on debut at Hamilton and I’d not get too downhearted about the latter’s unplaced effort in the Coventry as he was slowly away and drawn on the wrong side as it turned out.

Given he was allowed to go off at 8/1 at Hamilton, it’s fair to assume that the expensively bought Motawahij (he cost 285,000 gns at the breeze-ups) needed that sighter and he will benefit greatly from the longer trip here, as you’d expect of a son of American Pharoah.

Continuous was very much a work in progress when three and a half lengths second to King Of Steel in the King Edward VII Stakes here a year ago, and he built on that with improved efforts to win the Great Voltigeur and the St Leger in the style of a top-notch middle-distance colt.

His defeat in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe needs no excuses, but even Nijinsky couldn’t manage the St Leger-Arc double so there’s no shame in that particular failure.

Continuous lacks a recent run this time around but he has ideal conditions with the Leger hero fully effective at a mile and a half as he showed when blitzing his rivals for speed in the Voltigeur at York.

It seems churlish to oppose him in a Group 2 where he escapes a penalty for his classic success, and I’ve no intention of doing so.

3:45 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Group 1) 6f

The key to the ‘Jubilee’ is the draw, to my eye, and the question is whether you think having all the early pace concentrated up the centre is going to benefit those speedy horses or whether it will cause a pace burn-up which will help the hold-up horses is the pressing question.

My view is that it will help the pace hold up as it largely has at the meeting so far – there have been multiple cases of the principals in straight track races being drawn close together this week and Ascot can be a lonely track in which to race alone.

Fox Power (stall 7), Mill Stream (8), Quinault (9) and Washington Heights (10) are the horses who should dominate the early stages and, while all four have winning claims, I prefer the profile of the Kevin Ryan four-year-old, who was a regular rival of the other pair in his age group last season, with that handicap form having worked out really well.

The selection improved and looked a stronger physical model when taking the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket in April, beating Mill Stream, with Mitbaahy fourth.

The tables were turned in the Duke of York Stakes next time, where Washington Heights led deep into the contest before drifting left towards his rivals, and was beaten less than half a length into fourth behind Mill Stream.

His waywardness may have cost him the race there, with the winner helped by having horses to run at in the last 100 yards. The first three home raced near the far rail, so Washington Heights did well from stall 12, with the ground he lost by shifting over to the far side arguably more than he was beaten.

He holds Art Power on that run, although the latter is capable of better with the run under his belt. As well as backing Washington Heights, I’ll be including the quartet mentioned in exotics, hoping to hit on a trifecta if the theorising is on target.

4:25 Jersey Stakes (Group 3) 7f

While River Tiber and Haatem are closely matched on Irish 2000 Guineas running, I thought that Task Force was the forgotten horse of the race and it should be remembered that he was just in front of River Tiber when the pair chased home Vandeek in the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket last year.

Task Force failed to stay a mile in the 2000 Guineas while that was also his first run since the Middle Park and his first after wind surgery so he ought to improve as a result.

He impressed physically as a juvenile, looking very much the type to train on as you’d expect of the product of Guineas winners, and I’m firmly of the opinion that he’s worth another chance after Newmarket, particularly with double-figure quotes knocking about.

I would have been all over Quinault here had he been declared, but owner Tom Morley had the good grace to send me a message after I put him up here last week saying that the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Stakes had always been the aim, and I wish him and Stuart Williams all the best there – both would be deserving winners in my eyes.

As it stands, I find it hard to oppose Orazio who had excuses last time (stumbled leaving stalls and was found to be wrong behind after the race), and he’s 2lb lower than when a 7/2 favourite for this race 12 months ago.

He ran well to be a two and a half-length sixth of 30 to St Lawrence last year, doing his best work late, and he is lightly raced enough to think he can still progress, with Charlie Hills a master at coaxing sprinters back to form.

A third in the Cammidge Trophy on unsuitably testing ground on his return proves that Orazio is at least as good as he was last year and if he can keep tabs on the early leaders here, I’d again expect him to finish with a late rattle.

I’m of the opinion that Hand Of God is thrown in for this handicap. He showed loads of ability as a juvenile, ending his campaign with a win in a mile Newmarket maiden which has largely worked out very well.

The next few home in that race are all rated 80 or higher now and Hand Of God won with plenty to spare in a good time, so I thought his opening mark of 88 was very lenient.

He duly scored on his handicap bow in the Esher Cup at Sandown, where the mile was barely enough of a test for him, and he’s bred to do much better now stepping up to a mile and a quarter.

Connections also have King’s Gambit in the same mould and Harry Charlton was considering the London Gold Cup at Newbury for Hand Of God only to win it with King’s Gambit, who was just touched off in the Hampton Court on Thursday. Charlton says there is little to separate the pair at home – they have adjoining boxes and are also gallop companions – and if that’s true then the son of Churchill still looks thrown in after a desultory 3lb rise for Sandown.

Motawahij 2:30 Ascot – 1pt e/w 16/1 (general – 4 places)

Washington Heights 3:45 Ascot – 1pt e/w 14/1 (general – SkyBet 5 places)

Task Force 4:25 Ascot – 1pt e/w 8/1 (general – 4 places)

Orazio 5:05 Ascot – 1pt e/w 16/1 (Coral – 6 places, Ladbrokes, Boyles – 5 places)

Hand Of God 5:40 Ascot – 3pts win 3/1 (general)