Royal Ascot - Tuesday runners

Almaqam heads to Royal Ascot tomorrow for the St James’s Palace Stakes over a mile on the round course and I can' wait to see him up against the best 3 year-old milers in Europe. This horse has always been the apple of my eye and he goes into this race having done very little wrong in his short career. This is obviously one of the toughest races so far this season and he is drawn 8/8 which is not overly helpful but we have got the excellent Tom Marquand on board and we have got a very good horse so hopefully they can overcome it. There are three 2000 Guineas winners in the race, the English, Irish and French so Almaqam will have to prove himself as potentially the best 3 year-old miler in Europe if he is to win this. My biggest concern is his lack of experience but he is very quickly becoming very professional and he has got the perfect temperament for a test like this. 

I can’t wait to see Makarova run tomorrow in the King Charles III Stakes which has been the plan for a long time. Her last run was obviously extremely good and it was only the fact that she was so slow to get into stride that she didn’t finish closer or win. She goes into this race totally below the radar but it is a wide open renewal. She looks fantastic and will be wearing blinkers so if this brings about a little bit of improvement then I think she could run well. It is hard to know what the draw means but we have got Big Evs and Believing close to us who are at the forefront of the betting so it can't be a bad thing. 

Best of luck to connections tomorrow!

Pictured below is Almaqam.