Hugo Palmer Royal Ascot day three runners blog: 'He's probably the best handicapped'

Hugo Palmer has four runners in one race on day three of Royal Ascot 2025, and the leading trainer previews them all in his latest exclusive Coral blog.

We declared four for the Britannia, although King Casper is a reserve and looks unlikely to get in, but if he did, I think he’s still a well handicapped horse.  He’d have the hood on and hopefully that would help him settle, as he didn’t at Haydock last time and as a result didn’t quite get home. 

We’re claiming three pounds off The Wolf Of Badenoch, to win a Britannia is hard enough, to win off top weight is harder still.  He has been rated higher than his current mark though, and if the race set up for him and he there was pace up front for him to aim at, he could run very nicely.

Seagolazo knocked his leg six weeks ago which meant we’ve not been able to get a run into him this season, which is annoying, as coming here first time up is a hard thing to do.  However his work at home has been very good, and I hope he can run well.

Hawksbill is probably the best handicapped of the quartet, he needs to settle better in his races, but with a big field here, he should be able to get some cover and finish his race off very well.  He worked at Southwell ten days ago and that was very exciting, so if he’s drawn in the right place, he could run a massive race.