I have never looked forward to Royal Ascot so much

By Marten Julian

I have never looked forward to a Royal Ascot meeting as much as next week, but I have to advise you that my final selections will be very dependent on the state of the ground.

The going is currently good, with good to firm areas, but as you may be aware thunderstorms and flash floods are forecast for the area over the next few days. It is because circumstances can change at short notice that I write the Online Preview, which is available to download the evening before the day’s racing (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings). I also provide a text service, which is sent by noon each day and includes even later news.

I am not sure that today’s Sandown winner Muntadab is going to be quite as good as trainer Sir Michael Stoute hopes. The son of Invincible Spirit made hard work of defying an opening handicap mark of 78 in today’s 0-80, but he hadn’t looked straightforward when winning his maiden at Lingfield. He won’t be raised more than 5 or 6lb for this half-length success and may be the type of slow-burner his trainer handles so well.

I will be looking ahead to Royal Ascot on Sunday evening on my telephone line (details available on my homepage).

Have a great weekend and bye for now.