This Saturday’s live racing on ITV comes from Ascot and York with eight races to be screened across both tracks.
- 1:40 Ascot: Sodexo Live! Princess Margaret Stakes – Dance To The Music @ 2/1
- 2:00 York: Sky Bet Dash Handicap – Elmonjed @ 5/1
- 2:20 Ascot: Longines Valiant Stakes – Chantilly Lace @ 3/1
- 2:40 York: Sky Bet York Stakes – Almaqam @ 5/6
- 3:00 Ascot: Moet & Chandon International Handicap – Classic @ 7/1
- 3:20 York: Sky Bet “Jump Jockeys” Nunthorpe’ Handicap – Copper Knight @ 8/1
- 3:35 Ascot: Betfred Handicap – Fearnot @ 11/2
- 4:10 Ascot: King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Rebel’s Romance @ 9/2
King George Day at Ascot will have five live races covered, starting with the Princess Margaret Stakes. This Group 3 is over 6f and is for two-year-old fillies. Charlie Appleby’s Dance To The Music looked to have plenty of potential when winning on debut and is favourite ahead of George Scott’s Staya and Charlie Clover’s Flowerhead.
Next from Ascot will be another Group 3, the Valiant Stakes, which is for fillies and mares aged three or older and is run over 1m. This year’s race is wide open with marginal preference for Ralph Beckett’s Chantilly Lace who has had strong runs this season in both the 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes.
Two handicaps follow in the International Handicap and the Betfred Handicap before one of summer racing’s key contests, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes. This Group 1 is run over 1m4f and has a huge prize fund of £1.5m.
The bookies are finding it difficult to split Aidan O’Brien’s Jan Brueghel and Francis-Henri Graffard’s Calandagan who were first and second respectively in the Coronation Cup at the Derby meeting at Epsom. Also amongst the contenders are the 2024 Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner, Kalpana, and Charlie Appleby’s Rebel’s Romance who is on a hat-trick after wins in the Yorkshire Cup and the Hardwicke Stakes.
Joining Ascot on our screens will be three races from York, beginning with the 6f Dash Handicap. York’s big race of the day is next, the Group 2 York Stakes. Ed Walker’s Almaqam’s last run was defeating Ombudsman to win the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown and the four-year-old has quite rightly been installed as favourite. The main challenge may come from Ralph Beckett’s Stanhope Gardens who was fifth in this year’s Derby. The final race from York will be the 5f Nunthorpe Handicap for jump jockeys.