Posts Tagged ‘rip van winkle’

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Preview

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes takes place this coming Saturday 26th September at Ascot Racecourse. It’s run over a trip of one mile and is a Group 1 race for horses aged 3 years and above. The race offers up £250,000 in added prize money and is now sponsored by Sony.

Adian O’Brien looks to have a strong hand in the race, training four of the current eleven entries. However, his record in this event is particularly bad for some reason with only one winner from seventeen runners.

The betting is currently headed by O’Brien’s Rip Van Winkle at 10/11 generally. The bookies seem to think the race rests between Rip Van Winkle, Delegator and Aqlaam.

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Trends

Three year olds have won 16 of the last 25 renewals.

6 of the last 10 winners were previous Group 1 winners.

The Celebration Mile has provided 4 of the last 10 winners.

9 of the last 13 winners had finished first or second on their previous start.

Saeed Bin Suroor has won 4 of the last 13 renewals.

Aidan O’Brien has won 1 winner from his last 17 runners.

12 of the last 13 winner had run within the previous 35 days.

No winning filly for 22 years.

8 of the last 10 winners came from the first 3 in the betting.

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Betting

(Prices from Betfred)
Rip Van Winkle 10/11
Delegator 9/4
Aqlaam 7/2
Zacinto 12/1
Famous Name 14/1
Virtual 25/1
Poet 33/1
Set Sail 200/1
Windsor Palace 200/1

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Tips

The trends point strongly to a win for Saeed Bin Suroor’s Delgator. He’s currently a 9/4 chance with Betfred.

Get more horse racing tips on the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes from our horse racing forum.

The Eclipse Stakes, or Coral Eclipse as it is now more commonly know, is a Group 1 flat race run over a trip of 1m2f and takes place at Sandown Park at the beginning of July each year. The race is named after the famous 18th century racehorse Eclipse and has been sponsored by Coral bookmakers since 1976.

The 2009 Coral Eclipse Stakes sees the all conquering Sea The Stars as a very strong favourite. John Oxx’s charge has won both the 2000 Guineas and the Derby so this trip of 1m2f should hold no problems.

Aidan O’Brien’s Rip Van Winkle is also prominent in the market. Usual pilot Johnny Murtagh is banned so Jimmy Fortune has picked up a great spare ride. He is very confident on the chances of his mount;

“Dropping back to a mile and a quarter should suit Rip Van Winkle and I think he’s got a great chance.”

Conduit from the Michael Stoute yard holds a similar chance to Rip Van Winkle according to the betting market. For me, his overall form has a more solid look to it and he could well be the value play in the race at around the 4/1 mark.

Coral Eclipse Trends
Only 1 winning favourite in the last 10 years.

Avoid 3yo favourites.

Aidan O’Brien has won 4 of the last 10 renewals.

Avoid horses aged 6 and over.

Sir Michael Stoute has won the Eclipse 5 times.

Coral Eclipse Betting(Prices from Paddy Power)
Sea The Stars 8/11
Rip Van Winkle 4/1
Conduit 4/1
Cima De Triomphe 8/1
Twice Over 16/1
Jukebox Jury 50/1
100/1 Bar

Coral Eclipse Free Bet
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Aidan O’Brien is the king of the 2000 Guineas with four victories in the last ten years. Rock Of Gibraltar in 2002, Footstepsinthesand in 2005, George Washington in 2006 and last year’s winner Henrythenavigator have made O’Brien the man to fear in the Newmarket showpiece.

The Irish trainer’s horses are often allowed to go off at decent odds as Henrythenavigator winning at 11/1 in 2008 demonstrates. His only winner at cramped odds was 2006 incumbent George Washington at 6/4.

This year O’Brien goes to war with 5 runners, although the participation of Rip Van Winkle has been open to some debate in the last week or so. This horse looked very impressive when winning the Tyros Stakes at Leopardstown but disappointed badly in the Dewhurst and although that wouldn’t put me off on it’s own, I feel he’s being priced up very short on reputation whereas other have solid form in the book.

Of all Aidan’s entries, the one I like most is Mastercraftsman. His best performance for me came in the Group 1 Independent Waterford Wedgwood Phoenix Stakes which was on good to firm ground, the likely going for Saturday’s big race. He was a little disappointing on his last start when 4th behind Naaqoos at Longchamp at the end of last season but I’m always prepared to forgive horses from the O’Brien stable a bad run at the end of a campaign.

A number of his 2 year olds have followed this pattern but Aidan O’Brien has a knack of getting them back to 100% for the start of their 3 year old campaign and I expect Mastercraftsman to be another example of this.

It’s always nice to see one of the smaller stables get a result in the 2000 Guineas and I’d imagine something will pop up in the places at a huge price as is often the case here but I’d expect O’Brien to do it again.