Friday tips: How To Bet £20 on the fourth day of Royal Ascot

Temperatures are forecast to soar above 30 degrees at Royal Ascot on Friday and the biggest certainty is the misting cooling fans, designed for the horses, ending up being a magnet for those racegoers dressed up to the nines.

The feature race of the day is the Coronation Stakes and Inspiral, the favourite, will take some stopping if picking from where she left off last season when thumping Cachet and Prosperous Voyage in the Fillies’ Mile. However, she’s playing catch-up after missing the start of the campaign with niggling issues and with Frankie Dettori having a challenging week I’m happy to take her on.

Cachet took advantage of her absence when making all in the 1000 Guineas and showed that was no fluke when almost following up in the French equivalent. A mile around a bend on fast ground may just be her optimum conditions and I fancy her to turn the tables on her French conqueror, Mangoustime, but American challenger Spenderella also likes to bowl along at the head of affairs and the pair may contrive to set the race up for a finisher.

The one who fits the bill is the Andrew Balding-trained Sandrine, who makes plenty of appeal at a general 14-1.

She had Cachet well adrift when winning last year’s Albany Stakes and subsequently won the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket’s July Meeting before signing off with placed efforts in the Lowther and Cheveley Park.

Sandrine looked to be crying out for further in those latter contests – the emphasis had been on stamina at Ascot because of heavy ground - and she confirmed a mile is well within her grasp on her reappearance when a staying on fifth in the 1000 Guineas, when beaten under three lengths.

Typically, she tanked along in rear that day and briefly looked like cutting through the pack only to get a bit lost in the Dip – I’m not convinced Newmarket is her track – and be stranded out wide. Even so, it was a pleasing return with the promise of much more to come.

Sandrine will be sharper for the run and I fancy the demands of Ascot will be much more to her liking. Balding won last year’s Coronation with Alcohol Free, who had also finished fifth in the Guineas beforehand, and he was on the mark at the meeting earlier this week with Coltrane.

William Haggas will be a spectator for the Coronation Stakes but he could be in for a day to savour with Candleford and Persist ticking plenty of boxes in their respective races.

Candleford has been something of a slow-burner but impressed when making short work of older opposition at Kempton in November on only his fourth start in a handicap.

The four-year-old has been absent since but I’m taking the view that Haggas has resisted spoiling his mark of 91, which enables him to creep into the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at the foot of the weights. He’s certainly bred for the job, being a Kingman half-brother to Atty Perrse, who won the King George V Handicap in emphatic fashion at The Royal Meeting in 2017.

A wide draw in 18 may put some off Candleford but a quick skim at recent winners should ease any concerns. Quickthorn (19) was drawn widest of all last year, while the six victors before him were Scarlet Dragon (12), Baghdad (12), Dash Of Spice (14), Rare Rhythm (19), Kinema (19) and Arab Dawn (21). Remarkably, you have to go back to 2009 to find the last winner to break from a single-figure stall.

Candleford was a market mover on Thursday morning – being cut from 12-1 to 8-1 – but remains a backable price.

Persist rates the best bet of the day in the Sandringham Stakes. She’s probably the best bred horse in action all day, being a daughter of Frankel out of Persuasive. Her sire won twice at both Royal Ascot and on Champions Day, while her dam won the Sandringham off a mark of 95 in 2016 before returning the following year to land the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Of course, breeding can count for nothing in the heat of battle but Persist has undoubtedly inherited plenty of ability – shaping well in each of her three starts last year when rough around the edges and doing well to score on her return at Ripon last month given that she still looked to be learning on the job and was left with plenty to do after a slow start.

Persist was well on top by the finish, though, and clearly relished moving up to a mile for the first time. She now switches to handicap company off a rating of just 83 and, while her bare form doesn’t entitle her to be rated any higher, I’ll be amazed if she’s reached her ceiling. It's a pity Tom Marquand is unable to continue the partnership - I'm assuming he cannot quite do the weight - but his loss is Cieren Fallon's gain. And on the latter's birthday.

Haggas also has prospects of landing the King Edward VII Stakes with Lysander but it looks a trappy race for punting purposes. The same remark is applicable to the Commonwealth Cup, where Ehraz was tempting after his eye-catching run at Newbury last time. However, I was left a little underwhelmed by a best price of 7-1 given the depth of the race.

More interesting, at a general 12-1, is Sterling Knight in the closing Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes.

Ed Dunlop’s three-year-old has been a revelation on his past two starts, winning at Windsor after having to wait for a run before following up in decisive style against 17 rivals at Ascot last time.

Both of those races were over 6f but the drop to the minimum distance should not be a bother given the pace he has shown, especially last time when bursting clear before being closed down a bit near the finish. The trail-blazing Ruthin is drawn nearby and should give him a perfect tow.

3.40 Candleford £4 win at a general 8-1

4.20 Sandrine £2 win and £2 each-way at a general 14-1 (plenty of firms offering four places)

5.00 Persist £3 win and £2 each-way with Paddy Power at 12-1 (offering seven places). Sky Bet go 10-1 and go eight places.

6.10 Sterling Knight £1 win and £1 each-way at a general 12-1

Above quarter in a 90p Each-Way Yankee plus 10p Each-Way Fourfold