Royal Ascot

Who Is The NAP Of The Day At Royal Ascot On Thursday?

1 week ago

| BY Steve Mullington

It would be a fairly sad state of affairs if I wasn’t able to nominate my NAP of the day today in the biggest race of the week – the Ascot Gold Cup itself.

I am absolutely convinced that RAHIEBB (NAP) has got what it takes to lift the coveted trophy and I will explain my reasoning as to why.

Sired by the legendary Frankel, Roger Varian’s charge has the pedigree needed to excel at the highest level. His dam, Playful Sound, contributes the stamina of Street Cry to the mix, which combined with his ability to quicken at the end of marathon races gives him a distinct advantage over his rivals.

Find race-by-race tips and predictions in our Royal Ascot Day 3 preview here!

Put up for auction at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by Newsells Park Stud, the colt was purchased by Federico Barberini for 220,000 guineas on behalf of his owner Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, and what a buy he has turned out to be thus far.

The biggest pointer as to why Rahiebb will win the Ascot feature is how he performed in last season’s St Leger at Doncaster. The UK’s oldest Classic pitted him in against some of the best middle-distance horses in Europe, where he fought at a ding-dong finish with the top-rated Scandinavia, going down by just a neck.

The St Leger was the making of the horse and he has totally trained on as a four-year-old, as his run at York showed us when he landed the Yorkshire Cup with some degree of ease at the Dante meeting.

Speaking after the race at York, his jockey Ray Dawson was questioned about an Ascot bid and he said: “That’s where he’s heading (Gold Cup), he can go for all these Cup races and I think he’ll just keep getting better. His mind in racing today was perfect and he’s a bigger, stronger animal. I’ve very privileged to be riding him really.”

As well as myself, other pundits and journalists have identified Rahiebb as a potential Gold Cup winner in the sports betting markets.

The Daily Telegraph Racing Panel said he was one of the “young pretenders” ready to overthrow the older, established stayers like reigning champion Trawlerman, while Racing TV expert Alex Scott cited his highly progressive stayer profile as the reason he had made him his horse racing betting ante-post tip.

Lucky Stable is a free-to-play racing game available every day during Royal Ascot. You can find it in the Lucky Stable lobby.

Just enter the Royal Ascot game and select “Reveal Stable” to draw five horses at random. You win a share of the jackpot prize if three (3) or more of their drawn horses win their respective races.