So You Think: one of two Aidan O’Brien-trained Ascot runners now odds on

PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos), BY LEE MOTTERSHEAD 5:38 PM 17 JUN 2012

SO YOU THINK and Fame And Glory became the latest Royal Ascot favourites to move into odds-on territory on Sunday when the clear market leaders for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Gold Cup were cut to 10-11 from evens.

Frankel, as short as 1-7 for the Queen Anne Stakes, and 1-4 Diamond Jubilee Stakes hotpot Black Caviar are both regarded as near-certainties by bookmakers, who have now added Ballydoyle stablemates So You Think and Fame And Glory to the list of horses considered more likely to win than lose.

So You Think, whose chief rival Cirrus Des Aigles had on Sunday still to be confirmed a definite runner, was also a major mover with Paddy Power, who cut him to 11-10 from 6-4.

The same firm are also wary of Richard Hannon’s Royal Hunt Cup candidate Cai Shen and make him 16-1 from 25-1.

William Hill’s biggest cut on Sunday was to St James’s Palace Stakes supplementary entry Gabrial, now 12-1 from 16-1 to score for Richard Fahey and Jamie Spencer.

The layer has also trimmed Excelebration into 5-1 from 6-1 for the Queen Anne Stakes.

In the Royal Ascot top jockey market, punters have heeded the advice of the Racing Post’s Jon Lees, who on Sunday tipped Ballydoyle stable jockey Joseph O’Brien at 9-4 with Bet365. That firm now go 7-4.

Ground conditions at Ascot dried out to largely good on Sunday, but between 8mm and 10mm of rain was forecast for the evening and overnight, which clerk of the course Chris Stickels predicted “would put it back to the easy side of good”.

Stickels added: “The rain stopped Friday first thing and it has been breezy. I’m very pleased with the way it’s drying up and it is good on the straight course and good to soft, good in places on the round course.”

Racingpost