Charles Looks Worth A Cheeky Each Way Bet At Ascot

The big race of the weekend is the King George at Ascot and it looks a decent renewal. Michael Stoute provides the two market leaders and it is hard to split Poet’s Word and Crystal Ocean. Cracksman would love to see a drop of rain and for those seeking a bit of each way value Coronet could go well. She is 2/3 on quick ground, she is a course and distance winner at Group 2 level and she shaped well last time. At 12/1 Coronet represents good e/w value.
 

Charles Molson likes it as Ascot and looks overpriced.

However, at a much bigger price I think Charles Molson could go well in the preceding Gigaset Handicap. 29 horses will go to post for this 7f Heritage Handicap and a case can be made for the vast majority of them. However, when I saw that one of my old favourites, Shady McCoy, was priced up at just 14/1 with Charles Molson at 66/1 I had to abandon Ian Williams’ charge because on Victoria Cup form from 2017, Charles Molson is weighted to get revenge on that rival.

Patrick Chamings’ stable star was running off a mark of 92 that day and with Charlie Bennet claiming 5lb he was carrying 2lb less than Shady McCoy. Charles Molson met plenty of trouble in running and was only a short head and a place behind Shady McCoy in 5th and 2L behind the winner Fastnet Tempest. Charles Molson is now 5lb better off in the weights with Shady McCoy, so he is entitled to turn the form around.

He has run well on three of his four outings at Ascot, and even though he was down the field on his seasonal return in this year’s Victoria Cup he was only just over 5L behind the winner Ripp Orf. Charles Molson was giving him 9lb that day and he is getting 2lb from that rival on Saturday, an 11lb swing. That should enable him to close the gap and now that he is fully fit it would be no surprise to see him do better.

I thought he shaped well in a race that wasn’t run to suit at Leicester last time, staying on well off a slow pace in a contest that developed into a sprint. He should be much more at home in a strongly run race and a big field at Ascot, and Joey Haynes will keep the ride having ridden him for the first time at Leicester. Haynes has a decent record for Chamings with 4 wins and 6 top 4 finishes from just 31 rides.

He has been drawn in stall 20 which is far from a disaster as 9 of the last 10 winners have started from stall 14 or higher. He likes quick ground, he goes well at the track and his trainer is likely to have had this race in mind for some time. He has won off as high as 96 on the all weather so a mark of 90 looks workable (2nd here off 96 in 2015) and at odds of 66/1 I think he could be capable of hitting the frame.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 3.00 ASCOT SATURDAY-CHARLES MOLSON E/W @ 66/1