Commonwealth Cup Tips: Darwin can evolve into leading sprinter

It’s Day 4 of Royal Ascot on Friday and there are seven races on the schedule. Two of those are Group 1s, the first of which is the Commonwealth Cup. It’s one of the newest additions to the royal meeting, established back in 2015, and has been won by the likes of Muhaarar and Caravaggio.

My Commonwealth Cup Tips follow below...

Selection: Charles Darwin @ 11/1

Aidan O’Brien won this race with Caravaggio back in 2017 and he will be keen to add another winner to that list. He landed the King Charles III Stakes with Mission Central on Tuesday and it would be no shock if CHARLES DARWIN also manages to become a Group 1-winning sprinter here.

Impressive as a two–year-old, we know 6f is no problem for him, as he managed to win a maiden over this trip by a wide margin on just his second start. This colt truly announced himself with a dominant display in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot last year and that form is hard to ignore.

Injury scuppered his campaign and he didn’t make it back to the racecourse until April and he produced a nice performance to win comfortably. You can put a line through his latest run, as he had excuses that day, and we should see a much improved performance this time around.

Horse Racing Odds

Next Best: Venetian Sun @ 6/4

Karl Burke runs the very promising sprinter Venetian Sun and she has fully earned her status as race favourite. Already a Royal Ascot winner, she landed the Albany Stakes over course and distance last season and even got the better of Gstaad in the Prix Morny at Deauville.

Precise and Beautify got the better of her in the Moyglare over 7f but she’s clearly much better over shorter trips. Below-par in the 1000 Guineas, she bounced back to her very best when landing the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock and that race is probably the best trial for the Commonwealth Cup.

She was much too good for her rivals on that occasion and produced a powerful finish to win the Group 2 event by a margin of three lengths. A similar effort would surely give her every chance, provided the colts don’t have too much power for her.

Einstein could be one to avoid

Albert Einstein looked rather special last season but his season was ended prematurely by injury and things haven’t quite gone to plan this year. Winning nicely on debut, he overcame trouble in-running to win the Marble Hill and trainer Aidan O’Brien was convinced he had a star on his hands.

The initial plan was to target the Guineas but that idea was abandoned and connections have pivoted towards sprinting. It’s always tricky to re-train a horse for a different distance halfway through a season and it’s a concern that he failed to win a Listed contest last time out.

We may well see an improved performance but it’s hard to fancy him over horses who have already proved themselves over the trip this season and Ryan Moore might have picked the wrong horse.