Saturday’s Royal Ascot card brings the curtain down on five days of elite racing, with the final afternoon still packed with compelling top-class action.
The Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at 3.05pm stands out as one of the highlights, featuring six Group One winners in what promises to be a fiercely competitive heat.
Goliath is among those distinguished Group One performers, having claimed that status with an impressive victory in the King George at the same Ascot track back in 2024.
He absolutely thrived in firm conditions that day, and the ground on Saturday looks almost certain to replicate a similarly testing surface for the French raider.
The strength of that 2024 King George form has only been reinforced since, with Bluestocking, who finished second behind Goliath, going on to win the Arc shortly afterwards.
Rebel’s Romance, another rival from that race, has continued winning Group Ones around the world, confirming there was no fluke to what Goliath achieved that day.
With Goliath looking overpriced given his Ascot record, he is worth backing Win and Place on the World Pool markets ahead of Saturday’s contest.
The race also looks well suited to a Quinella, with Kalpana holding a leading chance if connections allow her to run on the ground, alongside Best Secret, who ran a stormer in the Golden Gates here last year finishing third on similarly fast going.
Just over an hour after the Hardwicke, the Group Three Jersey Stakes at 4.20pm brings another wave of interest, with Saber Strike and Into The Sky both holding leading chances in the market.
Saber Strike arrives in impressive form from his most recent outing, while the highly tried Into The Sky drops to what looks a more suitable trip after shaping very well in the 2000 Guineas.
Both horses are musts for the Quinella in the Jersey Stakes, but it is Godolphin’s Catullus who could offer the most compelling value in the Win and Place markets.
Catullus showed solid form over seven furlongs throughout his two-year-old campaign, but his most recent run at Goodwood represented a significant step forward in class and quality.
He absolutely bolted up off a mark of 96 having been gelded and had wind surgery, with those interventions appearing to have been the making of him as a racehorse.
His ceiling remains genuinely unknown at this stage, making him an intriguing each-way proposition through the Win and Place markets on World Pool on Saturday afternoon.