ROYAL Ascot legend Frankie Dettori has revealed his TWO bankers of the week.
And they include a £100,000 potential superstar for Grand National-winning trainer Willie Mullins and Ryan Moore.
Frankie Dettori knows better than anyone what sort of horse it takes to win at Royal Ascot[/caption]
The world’s most famous jockey – who now rides full-time in the States – will be at the Berkshire track this week but won’t be competing.
Dettori, forever famed for the Magnificent Seven at Ascot, said he turned down the opportunity to race at the Flat’s biggest festival.
And, though there is a part of him that thinks ‘maybe’, admits that soon disappears after a couple of glasses of bubbly.
If anyone deserves to let their hair down at Ascot, it’s Frankie.
But punters will want him sobered up to deliver his top tips – and he has an aptly-named banker in that regard.
Dettori, who filed for bankruptcy in March, has picked out a Mullins runner in the very last race of the meeting as his banker in the non-Group races.
He thinks Sober can get the job done for jump racing’s biggest trainer in the Queen Alexandra Stakes over 2m5f.
A two-time Group 2 winner in France, Mullins purchased the former Andre Fabre-trained runner at the Arqana Arc Sale in October last year.
Never one to rush his top talent, Mullins kept Sober, who also finished third in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak in 2022, to the Closutton gallops through the winter.
But the six-year-old son of Camelot was finally unleashed in a seemingly run-of-the-mill 2m4f novice hurdle at Killarney last month.
Initially available at 5-6, Sober was backed off the boards to win at 4-11 under Mullins’ No1 rider Paul Townend.
Although jumping didn’t really look his game – he won £275,000 racing on the Flat in France – Sober, who punters labelled an ‘exciting’ prospect, warmed to his task nicely in the end.
He was initially given a Gold Cup entry but is being saved for the handicap.
Dettori, when asked about his banker for the week in the handicaps by Stake, said: “I couldn’t leave him out – Willie Mullins.
“His runner in the Queen Alexandra Stakes – Sober.”
But it’s over six furlongs Dettori goes for his second banker.
Shadow Of Light was a huge eyecatcher in the 2,000 Guineas and, dropped to the shorter trip, Dettori reckons he can land the £650,000 Wokingham on Friday.
The former Godolphin jockey said of their runner for trainer Charlie Appleby: “This is my NAP in the Group 1s of the week – Shadow Of Light.
“He showed great speed in the Guineas and, with most of the good horses going to the St James’s Palace, I think this leaves the door open for him to show his stuff.
“He is my banker of the week in the Group 1s – Field Of Gold would have been a bit too obvious!”
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