Jim Crowley Royal Ascot Day Five blog: 'Let's hope lightening can strike twice'

Jim Crowley is back with another exclusive Coral blog, with the top jockey previewing his rides on Day Five of Royal Ascot 2024.

I was set for three rides on the final day of this year’s Royal meeting, but unfortunately two of them weren’t declared on Thursday, leaving me with Vafortino in the Wokingham. I’ve not ridden him before, but that was the case when I won this race in 2018, on Bacchus for Brian Meehan. 

That was an excellent spare to pick up that year, and we won at 33-1 from stall 16, so who knows, maybe lightning can strike twice, as this fellow is also currently 33-1, and we’re drawn in a similar middle position in stall 15. 

Vafortino is a previous Ascot big sprint winner, having landed the Victoria Cup a couple of years ago, that was over seven furlongs but as I said earlier in the week, the sprint course here is stiff, so the fact he stays well is a positive over what is sure to be a fast run six furlongs. 

He ran well in Dubai over the winter, winning once, and while he faces a tough task off top weight here, he’s got that rating for a reason, and if he can run his usual good race at this track, he would certainly have an each-way chance at least.

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