Newsboy’s horseracing tips and 1-2-3 for every race at Royal Ascot on Thursday

NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 DIAMOND RAIN, 2 YOU GOT TO ME, 3 PORT FAIRY

4.25 Gold Cup

GREGORY was successful at the meeting 12 months ago and rates the value alternative to hot favourite Kyprios .
We didn’t see the John and Thady Gosden-trained son of Clarehaven’s 2015 Derby victor Golden Horn at two but he made up for lost time as a three-year-old, adding to a debut score at Haydock Park in April of last year with a win in the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood four weeks later.
The Gosdens then brought Gregory to Royal Ascot for the Group 2 Queen’s Vase, in which he beat Saint George by a length and a half.
The unbeaten record went west with a third behind Continuous in the same-level Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August before he finished fifth to the same rival in the St Leger at Doncaster the following month.
But there was much to like about his comeback when a rallying third to Giavellotto in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup – Vauban split the pair in second – on the Knavesmire last month.
James Doyle’s mount looks ready for a stern test and he gets the vote to give his trainer combination and owners Wathnan Racing, on the mark with the sidelined Courage Mon Ami in 2023, back to back wins in the meeting’s signature race.
Kyprios captured this race a year earlier and will obviously be hard to beat if he can reproduce his best, with Trawlerman , Coltrane and Caius Chorister taken to fight it out for the bronze medal.

NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 GREGORY, 2 KYPRIOS, 3 COLTRANE

5.05 Britannia Stakes

STARLORE got no luck in running at Goodwood last time out, but is capable of a bold show if he gets the breaks.
On the back of a winning start to his career at Sandown Park last July, Kingman’s son ran third in the Group 3 Solario Stakes over the Esher track’s seven furlongs before signing off with a last of nine on soft ground at York six weeks later.
Starlore finished fourth in a conditions event at Newmarket’s Craven meeting and made his handicap debut at Goodwood on May 25.
My selection didn’t help his cause with a slow start but then found every door closing in his face but he steamed home for a seventh placing, two and a half lengths behind winner Qirat, and can show his true colours here.
The Britannia shortlist is, unsurprisingly, a long one – with Native Warrior, Volterra and Follow Me at its head.

NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 STARLORE, 2 NATIVE WARRIOR, 3 FOLLOW ME

5.40 Hampton Court Stakes

FIRST LOOK is the selection to make the most of a drop in grade after a fine second in the Prix du Jockey Club 18 days ago.
The going at Chantilly was hock deep when André Fabre’s Lope De Vega colt, previously a podium finisher in Group 3 company at the same venue and at Longchamp, took in the French version of the Derby – and First Look encounters a faster racing surface today.
But if James Doyle’s partner can reproduce that performance – he ran on strongly through the final furlong to be beaten a couple of lengths at the line – the French raider is well capable of making his presence felt as he descends two rungs down the class ladder.
King’s Gambit, who goes up to Group 3 level after landing Newbury’s London Gold Cup handicap by four lengths, is feared most, while Bracken’s Laugh and Bellum Justum are others to throw into the mix.

NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 FIRST LOOK, 2 KING’S GAMBIT, 3 BRACKEN’S LAUGH

6.15 Buckingham Palace Stakes

FRESH is exciting now that he returns to his favourite hunting ground.
From 14 visits to Royal Berkshire – many of them in fiercely competitive handicaps – James Fanshawe’s stable stalwart has won three times and has four in-the-frame efforts on his CV.
The bad news for his backers is that the seven-year-old is on a losing run of 13 – he last saw the inside of a winner’s enclosure after landing a course-and-distance handicap in September 2022.
But the good news is Fresh competes from a 10lb lower mark of 92 this afternoon.
Factor in that there were unmistakable green shoots in a running-on fifth behind Buccabay over six furlongs at Haydock Park 12 days ago and Hayley Turner’s mount has a good chance of rewarding each-way support – at the very least.
Gold Cup day’s getting-out stakes could hardly be trickier, with favourite English Oak, Kings Time, Divine Libra and Northern Express just four horses who are worth a second glance.

NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3: 1 FRESH, 2 ENGLISH OAK, 3 DIVINE LIBRA