Saturday racing tips: Shergar Cup selections at Ascot from Sky Sports Racing’s John Hunt

By admin On Aug 11, 2023

Goodwood runner-up Existent features in the opening Dash on Shergar Cup day at Ascot; Chester Cup second Zoffee runs in the Stayers race for team Europe and Frankie Dettori; watch the Shergar Cup at Ascot all live on Sky Sports Racing

John Hunt has four selections plus analysis for Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Day at Ascot on Saturday, all live on Sky Sports Racing.

Trainer Stuart Williams is clearly looking forward to running his remarkable stable star Quinault in the concluding Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Sprint (4.30) but he will be a very short-priced favourite to land another win.

Williams could easily land an overdue success, however, in the opening Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Dash (1.35) over five furlongs where EXISTENT should be suited very well to what should be an explosion of speed ahead of him early on.

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Existent’s most recent run came only last week at the Qatar Goodwood Festival when, held up as usual, he made very pleasing headway to finished second to the runaway winner Lord Riddiford. That was a very fair effort considering the winner enjoyed the rail whilst Existent had to challenge on the wide outside, an impossible task in hindsight.

There have been many winners of this race who have made a quick reappearance following a promising run; Prohibit, Secret In The Park and Stake Acclaim all took the busy route in to Ascot.

Existent wants a strong pace to aim at and with Michaela’s Boy, Intrinsic Bond and Tees Spirit almost guaranteeing a rapid tempo, this may well be the day when everything drops right for Existent, who admittedly has become a hard horse to win with. Tom Marquand is a great man on board to fire him home late.

Marquand also rides weekend fancy in THE WIZARD OF EYE and this time I hope Tom is at his brilliant, front running best. The ‘Wiz’ is stable star at Stan Moore’s Lambourn yard and has been a real credit over the years having run in the highest company as a two-year-old and has had so many tough tasks since then.

A real twilight horse, ability-wise, this is only his second ever handicap start in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile (3.20) and it follows on quickly from last week’s excellent effort at Goodwood in the Golden Mile. He was steadied back on that occasion, racing just off the pace and stayed on determinedly to finish sixth, ahead of Perotto and Escobar who again do battle.

I’m hoping that a change of tactics could pay massive dividends as the last time he was allowed to stride on, he won really convincingly over Kempton’s mile when thrashing a fair field in an All-Weather Championships Fast Track Qualifier.

That Marquand has the ride is a big plus as he has shown countless times what a fine jockey he is from the front. For a horse that has spent his racing lifetime swimming in the deepest waters, this represents a let-up for him class wise and it’s easy to visualise a really big first effort at Ascot for this popular horse.

William Haggas has two interesting runners in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Challenge (2.45), last year’s winner Pride Of Priory and LA YAKEL, who is just preferred this time around with Joao ‘Magic Man’ Moreira landing the ride.

We see Moreira regularly ripping it up in Hong Kong, but he’s been to the Shergar Cup before and made a particularly strong impression with two winners in 2018. He was keen to remind Matt Chapman on Sky Sports Racing on Thursday that he is far from a two-venue rider and this ride on La Yakel can illustrate the point.

His most recent start was here at Ascot when he looked sure to win before, in my opinion, lack of peak conditioning found him out late on. It was his first run since October and, although a red-hot favourite, I was far from despondent.

He looked a really progressive horse last year, strong and powerful, and he looks set to take a big step forward on Saturday. I prefer him to Pride Of Priory who looks as though he would want the ground slightly quicker, as he encountered so readily last year.

ZOFFEE has had many chances to land a decent staying event and his time could have finally arrived as the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Stayers (2.10). His last four starts have been in the Northumberland Plate (admittedly disappointing), the Ascot Stakes at the Royal Meeting, a close second in the Chester Cup and the Cesarewitch at Newmarket.

You need to be a little trusting to keep maximum faith in him as he hasn’t won any race since he landed the consolation race for the Northumberland Plate last summer. I’m happy to forgive his effort in this year’s Plate; from a high draw he was sent on to dispute the lead early and I just feel he ran himself into the ground. Worth remembering that all of the main protagonists in the Plate this year came from off the pace.

Zoffee’s previous effort at Royal Ascot was also creditable as this time he was held up, right at the back but could only attack on the very wide outside and that was similarly unsuccessful. Whilst he’s a good horse with an obvious chance, he has been beaten a few times when he looked more likely to win but the great news is the Dettori rides by chance here.

He was on board for the Cesarewitch effort which was commendable and surely Frankie will hit the board at some stage for his Shergar Cup swansong? Enjoy the day, live on Sky Sports Racing, and good luck.