US stars ready for Royal Ascot challenge

8th June, 2011 - Posted by Elliot Slater - Comments Off

The two US challengers for honours at next week’s eagerly anticipated Royal Ascot fixture, More Than Real and Bridgetown, have arrived safely in England and are reported to have settled in quickly to their temporary surroundings at Gerard Butler’s Egerton House Stables.

Trained by legendary American handler Todd Pletcher, both horses come to Ascot with serious claims to carrying off the prize money, in particular More Than Real who was last seen in action when winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf at Churchill Downs in November. The daughter of More Than Ready is set to take her chance in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes on the fourth day of the five-day fixture, where she will come up against the best European three-year-old fillies, including such as Theysken’s Theory, Maqaasid, Together, Memory, and possibly Misty For Me in what the Ascot odds indicate should be a good race.

A 16/1 chance to land the prestigious mile contest, More Than Real showed a bombproof attitude last term and a smart turn of foot to go with it. If she has sufficiently recovered from her journey across the Atlantic the US challenger could represent decent each-way value at odds much bigger than would normally be offered by bookies back home.

The other Pletcher-trained Royal Ascot contender is Bridgetown, a four-year-old Speightstown colt who has shown high level form at all distances from five furlongs to a mile. For the last 12 months Bridgetown has concentrated on sprinting and has shown tremendous speed, finishing a fine fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November and already this term having won two of his three most recent outings. Currently on offer at around 16/1 for the King’s Stand Stakes, the US contender looks to have serious claims in a race that this year appears to have no outstanding candidate.