Diamond Jubilee Stakes – Slade Power Sprints To Success

Saturday’s Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes is one of the biggest worldwide sprints of the year, and offers punters a great chance of nailing a big-priced winner, with seven of the last 10 winners having returned at 9/1 or bigger.

One such runner who be in the right price bracket is the 3yo Astaire (10/1), who won a juvenile Group 1 at Newmarket (6f, good to soft) last October, before being just touched off in a Group 2 behind Maarek (12/1) at York last month (6f, soft). That would have put Astaire spot-on for this.

Currently heading the market is the 4/1 favourite, Slade Power, who was only seventh in this last year, but has improved steadily since, winning a Group 2 back over this C&D in October (soft), before a Group 3 win on his return at the Curragh in May (soft). He was placed in the in the Group 1 July Cup (good to firm) and Haydock Sprint Cup (6f, good to soft), and certainly looks to have a big Group 1 in him.

Hot on Slade Power’s heels in the market on 5/1 is Roger Varian’s, Aljamaaheer, who was less than 1l behind Declaration Of War over 1m at this meeting last year, before winning a Group 2 here over the same trip (good to firm). Reverted to 6f on his reappearance, this 5yo finished very strongly behind Hamza (33/1) in a Group 3 at Newmarket in April, and could get closer off what will be a stronger pace here.

Another going up and down between sprints and a mile is the 6yo, Gordon Lord Byron (10/1), who finally bagged a Group 1 at Haydock in September (6f, good to soft). Sent around the globe subsequently to win another Group 1 over 1m in Australia (soft), it’s just possible he could find this 6f on good ground a shade too sharp these days – he was fourth in the race 12 months ago.

Of those yet to be fully exposed at this level, then Aidan O’Brien’s 3yo, Due Diligence (10/1) hasn’t done a lot wrong in winning his last two races – the latest a Listed event at Naas (6f, good). Expected to be better on firmer ground, he is an exciting prospect who may just announce himself on the world stage if successful here.

The French send over an interesting outsider in American Devil (25/1), though the form of his Group 3 win at Longchamp wouldn’t be good enough to win this, while Brian Meehan’s, Intibaah (33/1) has impressed in two lesser races the last twice on soft ground, including over C&D. Any rain could see him placed at big odds.

Possibly not the strongest renewal of this Group 1 sprint, but an excellent opportunity for Slade Power to finally land a big one at this level. He looked in rude health on his return and can only improve.

Here are the full trends covering the last 18 years…

All 18 winners scored over 6f.
17 were males – Black Caviar the exception in 2012.
17 ran during the last two months – three ran in the King’s Stand Stakes earlier that week, while four arrived via the Duke of York Stakes at the Dante meeting.
17 won in Pattern class.
17 were 3-6yo’s.
16 were non-clear favourites.
14 arrived via a Grade 1 track.
13 of the last 14 were officially rated 108 or higher.
Godolphin have yet to score from 18 runners.