Triple Time

(2.30 Queen Anne Stakes)

I was very taken by Kevin Ryan’s reaction when Triple Time overcame a one-year layoff to take the Superior Mile at Haydock, with the trainer revealing that he was “devastated” when the colt went lame when being prepared for the 2000 Guineas and describing the son of Frankel as a “special talent”. Ryan isn’t one to go overboard about his horses, and those comments resonated.

He went for the Daniel Wildenstein off the back of that but found the ground far too soft to operate on, and although not disgraced, this quicker ground at Ascot will be much more suitable.

His win at Haydock came off the back of an interrupted preparation and there must be a chance that this big, scopey colt can show further improvement as a four-year-old.

He’s overpriced if that’s the case, and although there is an inherent worry about his soundness (missed the Lockinge with a vet’s cert), his potential outweighs those concerns at the odds on offer.

Laurel

(3.40 Duke of Cambridge Stakes)

Nothing fancy here – just a blatant case of the wrong filly being favourite for a race which is easier to read than most at the meeting.

I like Jumbly, who heads the market at present, but on what she has achieved in her career to date, she shouldn’t be heading the market for this Group 2 contest.

A Group 3 winner for Roger & Harry Charlton, she’s had four goes in higher class and has come up short each time, albeit running right up to her best when second in the Lanwades Stud (Ridgewood Pearl) Stakes last time on debut for Joseph O’Brien.

Laurel has run to a higher level despite being much less experienced, and she shaped like the best filly in the race when runner-up to Fonteyn in the Sun Chariot Stakes last autumn. She again looked a top-class filly in the making when winning on her return, and I’m inclined to ignore her disappointing effort in the Lockinge, where she was one of a trio to chase the early leader on the far side and ended up filling the last three spots.

Jumby was behind her there having taken a similar route and quickly bounced back to win the John of Gaunt at Haydock, and I’d expect the market leaders to flip-flop after declarations.

Subjectivist

(4.20 Gold Cup)

The Gold Cup has enjoyed a revival in the last couple of decades and there have been some great winners in that period, but Thursday’s renewal is unlikely to throw up another given the absence of last year’s big stars through injury and retirement.

Subjectivist is the one horse who could arguably be given a pass in such a dismissal of the race, given he was a most impressive winner of the contest in 2021 when Stradivarius was fourth.

Sadly, an injury sustained in that win kept Subjectivist off the track for the guts of two years, but he has shown that he retains plenty of ability in two starts back this year, the latest in the Dubai Gold Cup, to suggest that his injury concerns are behind him.

The question is whether he can step up on those efforts, and my view is that he probably can, particularly over a track and trip which clearly suit.

He was a young winner of the Gold Cup and could easily regain his title with the benefit of that extra conditioning in the Middle East.

Little Big Bear

(4.20 Commonwealth Cup)

There is enough talent in the pool for this Group 1 to ensure that the form choice, Little Big Bear, is still on offer at 15/8, but I don’t see any such prices on the day after his rout in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock.

It’s easy to get embroiled in the debate over the draw at Haydock given the track had been rather haphazardly watered before racing, and I’d throw Mitbaahy up as one who will do much better in the King’s Stand, but the simple fact is that Little Big Bear looked a class apart from his contemporaries over sprint trips last year, with a seven-length defeat of Persian Force in the Phoenix Stakes a scarcely credible effort.

He’s had his injury problems since then, but after an abortive try over the mile of the Guineas, he slid neatly back into his sprinters’ shoes in the Sandy Lane, where he again showed an explosive finishing kick.

He has the likes of Shaquille and Sakheer to beat, but the former is a bit of a tearaway who is likely to tee the race up ideally for the selection, whose previous success at this meeting must also count for plenty. He looks the banker of the meeting.

Rohaan

(5.00 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes)

Rohaan was made for Ascot. He’s a horse who started life in handicaps off a plater’s mark (55 to be precise), but quickly developed into a high-class sprinter in his second season and has a record over course and distance which reads 110114, including back-to-back wins in the Wokingham and a fine fourth in the British Champions Sprint where he was the clear winner on the disadvantaged far side.

Rohaan would have needed his return to action at Salisbury, and he ran even worse on his sole start prior to the Wokingham last year, so his lacklustre effort is easy to look past.

It seems unlikely that Highfield Princess will be asked to turn out twice at the meeting, and Rohaan looks to have a fine chance in her absence, with only Kinross having more pressing claims on paper, and that rival likely to need softish ground to be fully effective at the trip.