Frankel Priced at 1/3 For St James Palace Stakes
- By A.J. Ryder on June 8, 2011 18:22 GMT
We have just passed the final declaration stage for the 2011 St James Palace Stakes at the upcoming Royal Ascot meeting. Unsurprisingly, the much-vaunted Frankel (Galileo) is considered to be the overwhelming favourite and the morning line has been set at 1/3 with a number of bookmakers almost certain to drop his price if he starts picking up ante post momentum ahead of next week's major contest.
Easily set to be one of the major contests on the opening day of Royal Ascot next Tuesday, and Frankel really does look head and shoulders above the field if he runs anywhere near his previous undefeated form. The Juddmonte-owned superstar can still be had in several destinations for 4/11 but many don't expect the price to hold through Thursday.
The closest competitors to Frankel look to be Dubawi Gold (Dubawi) who was second to Frankel in the 2000 Guineas with the other higher-profile three-year-old Wootton Bassett (Ifraaj) finally set for a Frankel face-off. He was well-beaten in his seasonal debut in the French 2000 Guineas, finishing a disappointing fifth place.
You'll find both of them priced at 12/1 but many observers expect a bigger challenge from the German 2000 Guineas winner Excelebration (Exceed and Excel), who lines up for Marco Botti after that decisive seven-length victory. He also put in a great shift against Frankel in the Greenham Stakes and that might add further credibility to his claims even if you plan on backing him in a best of the rest type of wager.
Excelebration trades at a 14/1 price while Dream Ahead (Diktat) is set for a seasonal debut since finishing fifth to Frankel in his last run of the 2010 season.
The odds then take a significant jump with a number of contenders hovering around a 33/1 price tag.
Juddmonte have confirmed that they will be saddling Rerouted and he is priced at a massive 100/1 at the moment. Expect a drop to 50/1 as the each-way punters pile on as he might be able to take advantage of a lack of early speed.
There should still be some movement in the build-up to the big race, but the general consensus is that Frankel's price has nowhere to go but down.
