Royal Ascot Update - 7 winners, including Palace Pier (Advised @ 9/2)

Frankie Dettori dominated the final day of Royal Ascot with a treble which saw him win the top jockey award for a seventh time. The Italian rode a terrific race on Palace Pier in the Group 1 St James's Palace producing the son of Kingman inside the final furlong to wear down the 2000 Guineas placed pair Pinatubo and Wichita. A length winner, John Gosden's unbeaten colt was a ready winner of a 0-100 handicap at Newcastle on his previous start and this represented a significant step up in class. The champion trainer earmarked the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville as his next likely target and it will be interesting to see if he is tried over ten furlongs at some stage. Palace Pier has looked very strong at the finish of his last two races and is a horse of tremendous potential who could develop into the leading miler this year.

As regards the Royal Ascot, I must admit I found it a very frustrating week which was summed up by the final day. Nahaarr (advised @ 14/1) looked set to win the Silver Wokingham only to be worn down inside the final half a furlong. I think the 'dead' ground almost certainly found him out late on, while Summerghand (advised @ 16/1) would have won the Wokingham in one more stride. Spanish City (16/1) ran a cracker in third but he, too, wouldn't have enjoyed the slow ground on the final day of the meeting. I think it is fair to say the Aidan O'Brien two year olds, who looked superstars when winning on their debuts, found the Royal fixture coming too soon with the majority failing to show their true colours. I wouldn't be in a rush to write off the likes of Admiral Nelson or More Beautiful too soon.

The 7 winners in the Update were Frankly Darling (Advised @ 7/4), Nazeef (100/30), Russian Emperor (Advised @ 4/1), Molatham (11/2), Khaloosy (Advised @ 14/1), Art Power (Advised @ 3/1) and Palace Pier (Advised @ 9/2), plus Escape Route (6/1) at Pontefract on Monday. Eight of the selections finished second.

Overall, it has been a good week for subscribers to Ahead On The Flat. The Top 40 Prospects has produced Al Aasy, Nazeef and Palace Pier, while Roger Varian (4 winners) and Charlie Fellowes (2 winners @ 33/1 and 20/1), in Talking Trainers, had a memorable few days at Royal Ascot. The Ballydoyle Juveniles section has unearthed first time out winners Swiss Ace (2/1) and Military Style (100/30) and the Significant Sales feature has seen both Dalvey (9/1) and Mirann (9/1) score in Ireland during the last few days. Mutasaamy (9/4), who is in the Handicap Snips article, put his disappointing run at Newcastle behind him with an easy win at Kempton on Saturday. Finally, Jane Marple (5/1) and Laburnum (2/1) were two more winners in the Unraced Three Year Olds article.