KING CHARLES could leave bookies in tears – and shed a few himself – as he teams up with ‘racing royalty’ in an effort to pull off a massive Royal Ascot gamble.
Historic horse Reaching High is red-hot favourite for the Ascot Stakes on Tuesday, day one of Flat racing’s biggest meeting.
PAKing Charles will hope to be cheering home a Royal winner on day one of Ascot[/caption]
PAReaching High was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II and victory at Ascot would be a hugely emotional winner for Charles and Camilla[/caption]
The horse, who was bred by the King’s late mum Queen Elizabeth II, is being piled into by patriotic punters fancying a right Royal knees up.
And he is now just 7-2 from 10-1 to win the £57,000 first-place prize at 5pm.
Trained by Grand National-winning handler Willie Mullins, Reaching High is the first horse owned by a reigning monarch to ever be trained in Ireland.
And Charles and Queen Camilla clearly think the world of him – thanks in no small part to his connection to his late mum.
Reaching High is out of Estimate, the late Queen Elizabeth’s beloved Ascot Gold Cup winner from 2013.
Footage of her late Maj celebrating her biggest victory as an owner a little over a decade ago was beamed around the world.
Charles and Camilla have put to rest initial fears they would downsize the Royal racing operation after selling 14 of the late Queen’s horses for a huge amount of money.
And, if anything, Reaching High signals their intention to throw the kitchen sink at big-time winners.
Formerly trained by Sir Michael Stoute of Shergar fame before he retired, the four-year-old gelding has been in training with Mullins at his Closutton base in Ireland for a few weeks.
He made his racecourse debut for the all-conquering jumps trainer last month.
What makes Reaching High so special?
By Sam Morgan
Any jockey will tell you – wearing the Royal racing silks is always an occasion to savour.
The late Queen Elizabeth absolutely loved her horses.
Up until her dying day she was still on the phone regularly to her racing adviser John Warren.
Any winners? Who is in foal to who? Should we buy anything at the sales? Her late Maj adored every aspect of the sport.
Breeding in particular, which is why Reaching High is so important.
His mum is Estimate, who won the Gold Cup at Ascot in 2013.
His dad is awesome stallion Sea The Stars, who had arguably the greatest season of any horse ever in 2009 when he won, in order:
2,000 Guineas
The Derby
Irish Derby
Coral-Eclipse
Juddmonte
Irish Champion Stakes
Arc de Triomphe
Aidan O’Brien always says loads of horses can get the two miles – it’s what comes after that, the additional furlongs to 2m4f, that separates the true stayers from the rest.
Reaching High’s odds of doing lasting the distance, at around 7-2, are plenty short enough now, especially as stepping up this far is an unknown.
But Willie Mullins works miracles on his gallops at home – and no one can get a horse to a race in peak fitness quite like him.
All in all it points to Reaching High relishing the test – and making it a Royal Ascot to remember.
Ridden by Jody Townend, Reaching High finished strongly but was beaten a short head in the 1m4f contest.
The Ascot Stakes, to be run at 5pm, is over a mile longer.
Estimate won the Gold Cup over this trip and Reaching High’s dad is former Derby, Coral-Eclipse and Arc-winning legend Sea The Stars.
And he will benefit from having world’s best jockey Ryan Moore in the saddle.
Basically, everything points to him excelling over the gruelling test.
Victory, while it might not be cause for another bank holiday (we can hope), would be a disaster for bookies.
BoyleSports report Reaching High being their biggest ante-post gamble of the Royal meeting.
The firm’s Brian O’Keeffe said: “The King and Queen combine with racing royalty in Willie Mullins and Ryan Moore and the weight of support for Reaching High has marked him out as one of our biggest liabilities of the entire five days of Royal Ascot.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but we’ll be a mile behind by the end of day one if he lands the Ascot Stakes.”
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