Revised Royal Ascot running order

It was announced on Friday that this year's Royal Ascot meeting, due to take place between the 16th - 20th June, will feature 36 races, which is an extension from the usual 30. There will be seven races on the opening four days with eight on the final afternoon (Saturday 20th). The half dozen additional races are:

BUCKINGHAM PALACE HANDICAP (7f, 3yo +) - will kick off the meeting on Tuesday

SILVER ROYAL HUNT CUP - Wednesday

COPPER HORSE HANDICAP (1m 6f, 4yo +) - Wednesday

GOLDEN GATES HANDICAP (1m 2f, 3yo) - Thursday

PALACE OF HOLYROODHOUSE HANDICAP (5f, 3yo) - Friday

SILVER WOKINGHAM HANDICAP (6f, 3yo +) - Saturday

Also, the St James's Palace Stakes and Coronation Stakes have been moved to the final day to maximise the time between those races and the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, which are due to be staged on the 6th and 7th June. Racing will begin at 1.15 on the first four days, with the action to get underway at 12.40 on the final day.

On Thursday evening, I spent an enjoyable 35/40 minutes chatting to 67 members of Value Racing Club, for whom I am Ambassador, via zoom. It was nice to put some faces to some names, many of which have been very loyal patrons to Mark Howard Publications Limited. One of the members 'in attendance' was ex-rugby league player David Heron. A Great Britain international, David played for Leeds and Bradford and, funnily enough, I watched a couple of matches in which he played on Youtube last week. Rather out of character for such a classy ball player, he was sin binned in both. 

Understandably, the members are itching for racing to resume and racing manager James Couldwell is continuously looking to strength the syndicate's string of horses. Please check out out ValueRacingClub.co.uk.