Wentworth and Hughes backed to make amends for Ascot nightmare

One of the unluckiest horses at Royal Ascot was Richard Hannon’s well-backed Wentworth in the Britannia Stakes. Jockey Richard Hughes endured a torrid time at the meeting until Sky Lantern put a smile back on his face in the Coronation Stakes and Wentworth went into many notebooks as an unlucky loser.

Hughes found himself trapped at the rear of the field for much of the journey, gradually weaving his way through a packing field before flying home in fourth behind Roca Tumu. The son of Acclamation had suffered a similar fate on his previous start when boxed in at Goodwood and had been supported into 7-2 favourite at the Royal meeting.

Punters are clearly out to recoup their losses on Saturday despite a further 4lbs rise in the weights. Coral have cut him to 5-2 clear favourite and he could become one of the gambles of the day. Mark Johnston’s Windhoek has been eased to 8-1 from 5-1 in the same race.

There have no significant early market moves in the Coral Charge with Sir Michael Stoute’s Duke Of Firenze sharing favouritism with veteran Kingsgate Native at 11-2. Both horses run in the colours of Cheveley Park Stud and it may be that punters are waiting for definite running plans to be announced.

Duke Of Firenze was a well backed winner of the Epsom Dash at the Derby meeting and was again sent off favourite for the Wokingham Handicap. He could never land a blow that day but finished a close eighth and Sandown’s stiff five furlongs looks tailor-made for him.

The market for the Coral Eclipse is also quiet as punters wait for news of Aidan O’Brien’s three entries. Last year’s English and Irish Derby winner Camelot is friendless at 7-1 whilst the three-year-old Mars attracted good support into 5-1 last week. Queen Anne Stakes winner Declaration Of War is thought to be an unlikely runner.

Roger Charlton’s Al Kazeem remains a strong 11-8 favourite to confirm Ascot form with Mukhadram (9-2) and The Fugue (4-1).