Al Kazeem a good looking Arc punt after Ascot success

The second day of Royal Ascot was a red-letter day for jockey James Doyle, who bagged a hat-trick of wins to take him top of the leaderboard for the meeting. The most prestigious of those wins came aboard Al Kazeem in the Prince Of Wales’ Stakes, after which his mount was trimmed from 14/1 into 9/1 in the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe betting –  a price which looks to have plenty of juice left in it yet.

The five-year-old’s triumph in the Group 1 – in which he gunned down long-time leader Mukhadram under an ultra-confident Doyle – was his second successive win at the top level, his third win of the season and his fourth win in as many races.

From an ante-post perspective it’s heartening to know that there is a reasonable certainty that your fancy will turn up in the race in which you’re backing it and Roger Charlton left punters in little doubt about plans for the future, telling Sky Sports “like most people I’d love to have a runner in the Arc and if we go there maybe the King George would be next”.

Al Kazeem’s proven ability to win on going ranging from good-to-soft to good-to-firm is another string to his bow in terms of long-range betting.

A potential question mark with regards to his pursuit of Longchamp glory is the step up to 1m4f. Having scored in four of his five career runs over trips around 1m2f, the son of Dubawi has won just once in four runs beyond 1m3f.

However his 1m4f win came on the only start of his four-year-old campaign and having sat out the rest of that season with injury, it seems he’s only now beginning to truly fulfil his potential. His upward curve could well continue for a step up in trip and a significant performance in the King George at Ascot would surely see his Arc price half.

His sire’s most successful offspring have thus far been scoring over 1m2f, but his dam’s side of the family offers hope that he can stay the Arc trip thoroughly. Her French Derby-winning sire Darshaan – himself by 1978 English Derby victor Shirley Heights – has already fathered an Arc winner in Dalakhani.

Having been put up for the Longchamp spectacular at 14/1 previously here at news.ladbrokes.com he still looks an attractive prospect at 9/1.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.