GET ready to dust down your topper.
Royal Ascot roars off the grid on Tuesday and racing’s big guns are locked, loaded and ready for action.
Mind you, the bookies have already been under heavy fire and copped a proper smack in the kisser when Sir Mark Prescott’s Alphabetical (6-1 to 11-10) landed a monster touch at Yarmouth on Wednesday.
The wily Baronet’s big grey was bet like a certainty, won by seven wickets and nicked his cunning connections a nice few quid.
Talking of money, owner Sheikh Fahad Al Thani hasn’t wasted any time spending the dough his superstar colt Kameko won in the 2,000 Guineas.
The billionaire Sheikh loves to flex his cheque book and nipped in a bit sharpish to buy Michael Bell’s two-year-old The Lir Jet earlier this week.
This young gun broke the Yarmouth track record on his debut and the word from Newmarket is that he will go close in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.
He is an 8-1 poke for that contest now and if the eagle-eyed Newmarket gallop watchers are right that price could dry up quicker than a puddle in the Sahara.
Meanwhile, Irish sprint sensation Sceptical booked his Royal Ascot ticket when he lagged-up at Naas on Monday.
Tipperary-trainer Denis Hogan and his pals bought this flying machine for the price of a second-hand Mini and are revving him up for next Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
They’ve booked funtime Frankie Dettori for the ride and Paddy Power’s betting guru Paul Binfield reckons the combination could be lethal, saying: “Many punters thought that Sceptical could have served it up to Battaash in the King’s Stand Stakes, but now he’s having that extra few days to recover from his exertions at Naas and lining up in the Diamond Jubilee.
“We’ve got him at the front of the market (3-1) as the one to beat.”
Keep it quiet, but I’m told Hughie Morrison’s team had the right hump after Kipps was chinned at Haydock Park the other day.
Rumour has it this fella is one of Hughie’s head-boys and faces close to the yard are still holding an inquest into how he got beaten.
Anyway, the well-heeled trainer and his pals are planning a recovery mission and might just run their pride and joy in a red-hot handicap at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
Mighty atom Hollie Doyle has been pencilled in for the ride and this likely lad will be a massive runner if he makes the gig.
By the way, you might just want to take a closer look if you think our racecourses are a `no-go zone’ for punters.
Those intrepid in-running players are harder to stop than Japanese knotweed and I hear they are trying all sorts of ruses to play live from the track.
The word is the boys have polished up their long-lenses and started hiding in the long grass in order to get an edge over stay-at-home punters.
I’m told they are managing to nick a few quid, which is handy as it’ll cost a dollar or two to get the grass stains out of their trousers.
Finally, make sure you stick Ed Walker’s Matthew Flinders in your notebook.
My phone was buzzing with positive messages for this fella before ran at Haydock on Wednesday.
He finished third there but would have got the job done but for running into more trouble than Dominic Cummings.
The Walker camp reckon this big boy is miles above average and will be staggered if he’s beaten next time.
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