Diamond Jubilee Stakes: Fun trip ahead for Gold team

The Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes is the feature race on the final day of Royal Ascot and boasts a truly international roll of honour, with the likes of Choisir (Australia), Cape of Good Hope (Hong Kong), Black Caviar (Australia) and Undrafted (USA) all doing the business as overseas raiders since the turn of the century.

Black Caviar had previously proved herself to be arguably the finest sprinter of recent years in her native Australia and, although the form credentials of this year's travelling party don't look quite so glaringly obvious, there is still a strong enough challenge to suggest the home contingent might just have a battle on their hands.

The current favourite for the 2016 renewal is the Charlie Hills-trained Magical Memory (135). Last year’s Stewards’ Cup winner (first three-year-old to win the race since 1997) has returned better than ever this campaign and, having landed the Group 3 Abernant Stakes on his seasonal debut at Newmarket, he produced a career-best to deny Suedois in a warm renewal of the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes last time. He did have the advantage of race fitness over some of his rivals that day, but it was still a performance that marked Magical Memory out as a strong contender for top honours on the domestic sprint scene this year and his tendency to idle in the closing stages suggests he might well have been value for more than the official winning margin. 

He is entitled to his place at the head of the market on that form, but connections of Twilight Son (136) will have every reason to believe they can reverse the placings at the Royal meeting. He could only manage fifth on his return from seven months off the track at York, but had beaten Magical Memory in all three of their previous encounters on the track and was forced to carry a penalty for his victory in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock in September (Magical Memory third). Trainer Henry Candy had also been struggling for form at the time and - likely to prove much sharper with that run under his belt - Twilight Son might be the slightly better value of the pair at the current prices.

The Tin Man (136) is closely matched with that duo on Timeform ratings and looks likely to contest this race on the back of a striking success in the listed Leisure Stakes at Windsor. He concluded the last campaign with a creditable fourth behind the likes of Muhaarar and Twilight Son on Champions Day at Ascot, travelling powerfully through the first half of the race and giving the impression there would be more to come from him this year. A half-brother to the top-class Deacon Blues, he consolidated that view with a dominant effort last time, but is likely to come up against rivals with far more experience at the highest level here and The Tin Man makes little appeal at almost half the odds of some battle-hardened campaigners.

Last year's winner Undrafted (137) certainly comes into that category and the American raider returned to action with victory over five and a half furlongs in a Grade 2 at Keeneland. That doesn't appear to be the strongest form in the context of this race, but it did at least show that the six-year-old retains all of his speed and he should get the strong pace that he requires in his follow-up bid at the Royal meeting. Fourth in the 2014 July Cup, he produced a high-class level of form to get the better of Australian speedball Brazen Beau in the final furlong here last year and a similar effort should be good enough to see Undrafted involved at the finish again in 2016.

Holler (134) and Mongolian Saturday (131) are other overseas raiders of note, although the latter looks more likely to take his chance in the King's Stand Stakes on the opening day of the meeting, a race in which he rates a lively outsider. Limato (136) also has alternative engagements (entered in the Queen Anne) and, although he remains with the potential to go to the top as a sprinter this season, he simply can't be advised with doubts about his participation. 

Indeed, the best bet at this stage appears to be Gold-Fun (137), who joins Undrafted as the standard-bearer on ratings. He represents the Hong Kong yard of Richard Gibson and comes into this race on the back of a smart effort behind Chautauqua in last month's Group 1 Chairman's Sprint Prize at Sha Tin, a race he won with Christophe Soumillon aboard in 2015. He has proved to be an extremely consistent performer on the typically competitive sprint scene in Hong Kong for a couple of years now and raiders from the Far East need to be taken very seriously in races of this nature. Cape of Good Hope and Little Bridge have both won sprints at the Royal meeting in recent years, but Gold-Fun has achieved as much on Timeform ratings and he looks a sound each-way bet at 12/1.

Recommendation:

Back Gold-Fun each way in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot 2016