David Probert Royal Ascot Day Three blog: 'It's going to take a very good performance to get the better of him'

Leading jockey David Probert shares another of his exclusive Coral blogs, this time previewing his rides at Day Three of Royal Ascot.

I ride Arctic Thunder for Andrew Balding in the Britannia, and I think he’s a very unexposed horse. He won here over 7f last time, so his experience of the course will come in handy, and the way he shaped that day, I don’t suspect going back up to a mile will be any issue at all for him.

He was very game that day, and you have to really get your head down and battle if you’re going to win a race of this nature, so it’s certainly a good attribute to have. He’s come out of his last race really well, and he’s been in good form at home since, so I’m very much looking forward to the ride.

I’d be a little bit concerned about the ground just being on the quick side for him, but he’s a consistent horse with plenty more to come, so I’m hoping he can run his race and be involved at the finish.

This looks such a fascinating race, but I’d obviously love to see Coltrane win it for the Mariscotti family. He’s a horse I have a long association with, and I think he proved when winning the Sagaro Stakes here last time that he still retains plenty of that ability. He ran an absolute cracker in this last year when just touched off by Courage Mon Ami, and if he can run to that sort of level again, then he’s bound to go very close.

There are plenty of other top-class stayers in there though, but you’d have to say Kyprios is the one they’ll all have to beat. He’s obviously a very short price, but his form does entitle him to be that short, and he’s unbeaten over this trip, so I would say it’s going to take a very good performance to get the better of him.

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