Royal Ascot Placepot picks - Paul Kealy's perm for the £400,000 guaranteed pool

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Congratulations in advance if you get the Ascot Placepot up, as it looks impossible to me. I'll have a crack, though, and go with an eclectic trio in the first (2.30).

Alta Regina is the one I like most from the British contingent, while American raider More Champagne hammered the odds-on Wesley Ward-trained Shining Moment on her debut and that one has also made the trip.

I'd better put one in from a low draw just in case, and will take a chance on Drazinda being very useful for the brilliant Francis Graffard.

In the Queen's Vase (3.05), Limestone is already not far off the level usually required to win this, while Galiyan has been the subject of good reports, so the market may have this one right.

I've no real argument with Blue Bolt being favourite in the next (3.40), but have a feeling it's more open than the market suggests, and two I can see going well are the French raider Godspeed, and Cathedral, who is building up to a big run and was fourth in the Coronation Stakes last year.

Everyone has been billing the Prince of Wales's Stakes (4.20) as a match between Ombudsman and Daryz, and it might well be. Indeed, we probably need only one for the Placepot, and with Ombudsman having been there and done it, he gets the nod.

Middle to high is often the place to be in the Hunt Cup (5.00), and my main two, Linwood and Rogue Diplomat, are hopefully in the right place, while Fifth Column is another to make some appeal after his excellent Newmarket second over a furlong further.

It's wise to stick one in on the far side as back-up, and that's La Botte, who went so close in the Britannia last season.

That leaves just the Kensington Palace (5.35), in which I am very warm on the chances of Stateira, although I'll add a couple more as it's a 25-runner handicap.

Alobayyah was a big eyecatcher when finishing well off a steady pace here last time, while, of the outsiders, Betty Clover is half interesting.

She was a massive surprise gamble in this race a year ago, going off at just 9-1 off a mark of 100, but lost her action and was pulled up. She's down to 95 now and has back form that suggests that's fair.

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Ascot Placepot perm

2.30
1 Alta Regina
8 Drazinda
17 More Champagne

3.05
3 Galiyan
4 Limestone

3.40
3 Blue Bolt
6 Cathedral
11 Godspeed

4.20
6 Ombudsman

5.00
3 Linwood
15 Fifth Column
16 La Botte
28 Rogue Diplomat

5.35
1 Stateira
7 Betty Clover
10 Alobayyah

3x2x3x1x4x3=216 lines

World Pool tip: left field selections can bag big Exacta payout

There are plenty of races in which it could be tempting to have a go at a few exotic bets on this World Pool day, but the one I like most is the Kensington Palace Stakes (5.35), a fillies' handicap over a mile.

Stateira and Alobayyah are standouts, for the reasons given in the Placepot perm, and I'm going to put that pair in with a couple of others in a bid to land a decent Exacta payout.

Gaga Girl is pretty much an unknown quantity to most of us as she's trained by Gerald Mosse in France and is making her British debut.

She looks like she's improving, though, as she ran a career best when second in Listed company last time, giving a little bit of weight to the higher-rated winner.

That was on very soft ground. Her two wins have come on good and good to soft, so she might just be a better filly on a faster surface. Her sire, The Grey Gatsby, certainly bounced off good to firm.

Betty Clover is little bit left field as she doesn't have much form this season, but she went off at a single-figure price for this last year (pulled up) and is 5lb lower now.

Her early-season form last term included a nose second to Crimson Advocate (won the Duke of Cambridge next time) and a Group 2 third to Godspeed (will hopefully win it this time), and on that sort of form she would certainly be a player off a mark in the 90s.

World Pool recommended bet:

1 Stateira
5 Gaga Girl
7 Betty Clover
10 Alobayyah

12 x 1pt combination Exactas

Read more:

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