The elite week of the British flat racing calendar gets underway on Tuesday, running until Saturday. This year’s event is expected to draw in huge crowds, compared to a restricted crowd in 2021 and an absence of any crowd in 2020, both due to the pandemic.
On the first day of the five-day meeting, bettors are predicted to punt on the treble involving Baaeed in the Queen Anne Stakes, Coroebus in the St James’s Palace Stakes, and Golden Pal in the King’s Stand Stakes.
William Haggas’s Baaeed, an unbeaten seven-time winner, is the 2-7 favourite for the Queen Anne Stakes, while American trainer Wesley Ward noted that Golden Pal is the fastest horse he has ever trained. Australia’s Nature Strip, however, will ensure that the competition will be fierce.
“Baaeed, Coroebus and Golden Pal will be popular on the day, with punters throwing in a horse like Blackbeard,” said Paddy Power’s Paul Binfield. “We’ll see plenty of accumulators with these three and whatever Frankie Dettori is riding on day one. It will give the odds boffins real headaches.”
Three-times winning Melbourne Cup jockey Glen Boss meanwhile believes that the Australian sprinter Nature Strip will be more than a match for his rivals, saying: “Nature Strip’s best is too good. It’s as simple as that. He has been the most dominant world-class sprinter for the past two years and we have the best sprinters in the world.
“He will be very strong at the end of the race up the hill. I reckon he’s a great seven-furlong horse so that will suit him right down to the ground.”
