Royal Ascot is next on the flat racing agenda, as the five-day spectacle is set to take place between 20-24 June. With Epsom already playing host to the Oaks and the Derby — the second and third British Classics of the season, respectively — earlier this month, fans of the flat are treated to a blockbuster June.
The Royal affair is world-renowned for its glitz and glam but for the purist, the racing itself is all that matters and they are truly spoiled over the course of the week — with 36 races to get their teeth stuck into, including 19 Group races, eight of which are of the highest level.
The best of the best from the top yards in the United Kingdom and Ireland will be joined by runners from all across the globe in what is going to make for a fantastic five days of racing, but let’s take a look at what are going to be some of the blockbuster clashes of the week.
Queen Anne Stakes
The first race of the entire meeting looks set to be a cracker, with very little to separate Modern Games and Inspiral at the fore of the Royal Ascot betting for the Queen Anne Stakes. The Godolphin runner is a consistent performer, finishing in the front three on all but two of his 15 runs and winning eight times, while his form since last September reads 12121.
Modern Games was second in a Group 1 in the United States in April, but made his reappearance back on home soil in May with a bang when winning the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury. The four-year-old could benefit from those recent runs as top filly Inspiral is heading straight to Ascot without a race since finishing sixth in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day.
Modern Games was second in that season finale, which could give him the edge, but Inspiral goes well fresh so don’t rule her out.
Prince Of Wales’s Stakes
This one-mile, two-furlong contest on the second day of Royal Ascot looks incredibly hard to call, as Bay Bridge (3/1), Luxembourg (3/1) and Adayar (7/2) are very close in the betting while the likes of 2022 Derby champion Desert Crown (11/2), My Prospero (7/1), Group 1 victor Emily Upjohn (8/1) and multi-time Group winner Point Lonsdale (8/1) could pose issues.
Bay Bridge had a solid season last year, winning the Brigadier Gerard Stakes and the Champion Stakes as well as finishing second in this contest, but has started this season with a third at Longchamp and a second at the Curragh — where he was beaten by the resurgent Luxembourg, who bounced back from finishing seventh and fifth in his last two attempts to win the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Adayar has come on fantastically after struggling for form following his 2021 Derby win. The Godolphin horse had nearly a year off before returning with a win at Doncaster in September and then finishing second to Bay Bridge at Ascot. He’s since won a Group 3 at Newmarket in May.
The others are not to be ruled out either, with Desert Crown running well in his first race since the Derby triumph to finish second in the Brigadier, while Point Lonsdale is two for two over this distance this season.
Ascot Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is the highlight of the entire week and we have been treated to some classic renewals in recent years, most notably with Stradivarius winning the prestigious contest three times in succession, and this year’s edition looks just as promising.
Proven stayer Coltrane is the favourite for the two-mile and four furlongs race at 3/1 after he won the Sagaro Stakes (A Gold Cup Trial) at Ascot last month and he has a good record at the Berkshire course, winning the Ascot Stakes over this race’s distance at last year’s Royal meeting before being beaten by a head in the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day.
However, Eldar Eldarov (4/1) is hot on the Andrew Balding-trained horse’s tail. The St Leger winner was extremely disappointing in the Long Distance Cup after his Classic win at Doncaster, with no explanation for him finishing second last at Ascot, but his reappearance in the Yorkshire Cup last month was promising as he stayed on for second and he could come on for that.
Coronation Stakes
The Coronation Stakes will see a thrilling battle from earlier in the season reignited, with 1000 Guineas first and second Mawj and Tahiyra set to go head-to-head once again in the penultimate day’s feature race.
Mawj was the shock 9/1 winner of the first British Classic of the season, capitalising on her fine form from a winter trip to Meydan — where she won on both her outings — to win by half-a-length from heavy pre-race favourite Tahiyra under Oisin Murphy.
There were question marks surrounding Dermot Weld’s filly that day, with some claiming she might not have been ready on that occasion. That argument was backed up when she beat Meditate in the Irish 1000 Guineas recently and she will be well-backed to reverse that Newmarket form at Ascot.
