Souci Looks A Juicy Each Way Bet At Ascot

Ascot hosts a quality card of action on Wednesday and the big race of the day is the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes. It looks a decent renewal with Torcedor just edging favouritism at 9/4 for Jessie Harrington and Colm O’Donoghue. If he can reproduce the form of his close 2nd to Order Of St. George over this course and distance last year he will be extremely hard to beat.
 

Sans Souci Bay has a fine record on straight tracks on easy ground.

However, I am not in the business of putting up 9/4 favourites and I like one at a much bigger price for each way purposes in the concluding 8f apprentice handicap at 4.55. Sans Souci Bay has yet to pull up any trees on two starts this season at Southwell (8f st) and Catterick (7f) but he will appreciate the return to a straight course and he looks chucked in on his narrow defeat to Saluti off 81 in a handicap at Salisbury last July (7f sft).

He has shown his best form by far on straight tracks, with both his turf wins coming over 7f on easy ground in blinkers in a seller at Leicester and a claimer at Salisbury. His career form figures on straight courses on good to soft or worse ground read 201012, and a line can be put through the second of his poor runs as he lost many lengths at the start at Lingfield.

He ran a better race than his finishing position and distance beaten at Catterick last time suggests, as he was driven along early having missed the break and he got shuffled back through the field as they turned in. He stayed on well after being switched wide and he wasn’t beaten all that far considering his rough passage through the contest.

He races off a mark of 77 tomorrow with Theodore Ladd claiming a useful 7lb, so he is effectively 11lb lower than for that cracking effort behind Saluti last summer (and 13lb better off with Saluti). Ladd has had four rides for Dixon, finishing 2nd twice including when beaten a short head on Best Tamayuz at Southwell on Monday.

He hasn’t got a bad draw in stall 9, the blinkers are off (has won without them before), the ground should suit and I think he will stay the trip as his half brother is a winner at a mile and Medicean’s progeny usually stay well enough. At odds of 25/1 I think Sans Souci Bay is worth chancing for small stakes each way.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 16.55 ASCOT: SANS SOUCI BAY E/W @ 25/1