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Once again, we kick off with a fiendish new handicap … well, not that new as there used to be a three-year-old sprint handicap at the Royal meeting, called the Balmoral, but it disappeared some years ago. The clear favourite is Art Power, nicely bred and impressive so far, powering well clear on his Newcastle reappearance. You could worry about stable form, as Tim Easterby has been short of winners, but this grey looked really good just 18 days ago.
Down at the bottom of the weights, there’s a couple of contenders. Dancin Inthestreet met trouble in running at Haydock, when five furlongs looked on the sharp side for her; this five is stiffer, though. Never Dark is from a zippy family and his mum won the Wokingham 13 years back. He made all at Kempton on his handicap debut but this is his first turf start. Maystar won in Qatar in December and went close in a French Listed race in March, so he won’t wilt for lack of experience.
Written by Tony Paley with Chris Cook and Greg Wood
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2020/jun/19/royal-ascot-day-four-horse-racing-commonwealth-cup-live-updates under the title “Royal Ascot 2020: day four – live updates!”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.