Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Sixandahalf returns en route to Royal Ascot

William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell assesses some of his leading Royal Ascot hopes two weeks out from the meeting, including Sixandahalf, Fiery Lucy, Snellen and more.

Sixandahalf returns ahead of Royal Ascot bid

Sixandahalf has been in good form since her run at Punchestown last month and she is set to run on the Flat at the Curragh on Wednesday (7.30pm). We’ll see how she runs there and it will probably be a deciding factor in whether or not she goes to Royal Ascot.

It’s a case of her coming out of the race well and probably also going up a couple of pounds, because she’s just on the border of whether or not she’ll get in at Ascot. If she managed to put in a good run and go up a few a pounds then that should guarantee her entry.

She’s a syndicate horse so it would certainly be nice for the group to get her to Royal Ascot.

Royal runners to keep an eye on

We have a few horses we’d like to get to the Royal meeting, one of which is Fiery Lucy. She holds and entry at Musselburgh on Saturday for the Listed Fillies’ Stakes (3.10pm) and will also be entered in the Kooyonga, the Listed Fillies’ contest over a mile at Navan on Saturday (3.30pm).

She’s likely to run in one of those, we’re just not sure which yet. She wants nice ground, the ground is good at Navan and I don’t think it’s going to get any softer than that.

She has a small possibility of going to Royal Ascot. We’ll have to see how this weekend goes but there’s definitely a chance she could go.

Snellen won the Chesham for us back in 2023 and she’s set to head back to Ascot this year. She’ll have an entry for the Kooyonga on Saturday as well, which was a bit of a late decision. We’ll see how the race shapes up and she could run there if it suits. If not she’ll probably have a racecourse gallop after racing anyway.

She’s actually in the Goffs London Sale at Ascot so she could potentially run in the Kooyonga, go to the sale, and run at Ascot.

We’re also going to try to get Robbies Rock there for the 2m4f Handicap on the Tuesday (5.00pm). He was a runner-up at Killarney before winning nicely at the Curragh the last day. He’s in good form and rated 88 he’s just on the border of the mark that should get him in. Last year’s winner won it off 88 so hopefully we can get in off that mark.

One of our forty-or-so two-year-olds that we’re hoping to get to Ascot is Joyful Tidings. He’s probably going to go for the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes for two-year-olds over five furlongs on the Wednesday (6.10pm).

We were pleased with the way he won at Tipperary, he’s been working well since and we’re happy with him at home. He’s a pretty professional horse so I don’t see any problem with him going straight there.

Another from our two-year-old crop we’d like to get to Ascot is a filly called Brownstown. She won a barrier trial last week at Naas and she could potentially go for the Chesham on the Saturday (2.30pm).

She won her barrier trial nicely and she goes really well at home. She could potentially go to Leopardstown on the 12th of June which would mean a quick turnaround for Ascot. She could either go there first, or straight to Ascot.

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