3.05pm QUEEN’S VASE preview
The first significant three-year-old race of the season at a mile and three-quarters, and whileCarmerstook theYeats Stakesat Navanin May over a furlong shorter, every other runner is stepping up at least two furlongs in trip. Many are likely to post a new career-best as a result, including Aidan O’Brien’sShackleton,a son of Camelot who was fourth of five on his return to action over 10 furlongs at the Curragh but was stopped in his run and looked sure to improve for a step up in trip. Roger Varian’sRahiebbcomes in with a fairly similar profile to the trainer’s Eldar Eldarov, who landed this in 2022 and went on to win the St Leger, whileAsmarani,a product of the late Aga Khan IV’s breeding operation whose pedigree is laden with stamina, is another very interesting contender for Francis-Henri Graffard. He was runner-up to a next-time winner in the Group Three Prix Hocquart at Longchamp in May, is second-in onTimeformratings on that form and is almost certain to find plenty more now that he goes beyond a mile-and-a-half.Devil’s Advocate,whose dam was a winner at this trip, wasfourth in the Dante at Yorkand is another to consider along with O’Brien’s second-stringScandinavia,a maiden winner by Justify out of a Galileo mare, in what looks, on paper at least, to be a cracking renewal of this race.
SELECTION:ASMARANI
Carmers is the most backed at Oddschecker today – 25% of total stakes
Market Mover: Asmarani 6/1 into 7/2
2.30pm QUEEN MARY STAKES preview
Royal Ascot provides all manner of different challenges for form students and the task here is to identify the winner in a big field of juvenile fillies that - with the exception of a couple of rank outsiders – have all had either one, two or no races at all. Judging the relative merits of lightly-raced two-year-olds is a tricky puzzle that tends to involve a lot of trial and error, but there has been little doubt that Karl Burke’sZelainawould set off as the favourite for this race since she all the runningto win a maiden at Nottinghamearlier this month by nearly three lengths. She cost £650k at the breeze-ups earlier this year and was still showing signs of inexperience at Nottingham, so she can be expected to improve significantly for the run (Timeformadded a capital “P” to her rating, suggesting that she is open to much more than normal improvement, and they don’t hand those out willy-nilly). Wesley Ward has sent four winners of this race over from his base in the United States, and while he is missing from the meeting this year, there is a still an American presence thanks to Patrick Biancone’sLennilu.Biancone won consecutive Arcs in 1983 and 1984 with All Along and Sagace, but has now been training in the States for more than two decades.
Lenniluqualified to run via the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream, which you can watch – with commentary in Spanish, as it’s the only one I could find –here, andTimeformwere sufficiently impressed by that run to make her their second-top runner in the race on ratings behind Aidan O’Brien’sTrue Love.Lennilu’s work rider and groom for the trip, incidentally, will be the trainer’s daughter, Andie, whose main job is as a reporter and analyst on the American racing channel, FanDuel TV.True Love,meanwhile, hadher form behind stable-companionGstaadat Navan in May seriously boosted on Tuesday when Gstaad ran out a comfortable winner of the Coventry Stakes. A raft of other contenders with a single run and win to their name includeSpicy MargandStaya,and while Spicy Margtook a Newmarket novice that has produced two Royal Ascot winners in the last three years, Staya also put up a taking performance in her Yarmouth maiden. She travelled well, eased through towards the lead, quickened when required and clocked a decent time for a debutant, so a price of around 16-1 is a fair each-way option in an open race.
SELECTION:STAYA
23% of total bets on Oddschecker this morning have been on Zelaina
Market Mover: Cardiff By The Sea 18/1 into 9/1
Here’s the run down of the action today and I will start posting Greg Wood’s previews to give you a chance to study the form:
2.30pm- The Queen Mary Stakes (5f)3.05pm- The Queen’s Vase (1m 6f)3.40pm- The Duke of Cambridge Stakes (1m)4.20pm- The Prince of Wales’s Stakes (1m 2f)5.00pm- The Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap) (1m)5.35pm- The Kensington Palace Stakes (Handicap) (1m)6.10pm- The Windsor Castle Stakes (5f)
Rub these names out on your racecards. These are the horses that won’t be turning up this afternoon along with their sick notes!2.30pm Queen Mary Stakes6 Eternal Solace (not eaten up)
4.20pm Prince Of Wales’s Stakes2 Certain Lad (going not suitable)
5.35pm Kensington Palace Stakes20 Queen Of Atlantis (bad scope)
6.10pm Windsor Castle Stakes13 Kansas (not eaten up)
Good morning. It’s sweltering already as I’m sure you’ve noticed and it’s only going to get hotter so as advised yesterday there’s going to be no major change in the ground conditions out on the track.The official going for day two atRoyal AscotisGood to Firm, good in places.
GoingStick readings at 8.30am:Stands’ side: 8.5Centre: 8.6Far side: 8.5Round course: 7.4
Good morning fromAscoton day two of the 2025 Royal meeting on what promises to be another scorcher of a day, both on and off the track.
There is only one Group One event on the card – thePrince of Wales’s Stakesin the traditional primetime slot at 4.20pm (all times BST) – but it is an ultra-competitive renewal with no fewer than five of the runners priced up between 9-4 and 11-2 or shorter.
A trio ofGroup Twostake us up to the feature, ranging from two-year-old fillies blitzing down the straight course in the Queen Mary Stakes (2.30pm) to three-year-old stayers and St Leger candidates in the Queen’s Vase. And the late afternoon action includes the Royal Hunt Cup, one of the most competitive handicaps of the year, and the added bonus of a royal runner with a big chance asRainbows Edgegoes to post in the purple and scarlet silks for the Kensington Palace Stakes at 5.35pm.
Five millimetres of water on both the straight and round courses overnight has maintained the going asgood to firm, good in places, although it is sure to be getting faster as the day unfolds.
In the jockey and trainer standings, Ryan Moore remains odds-on to be the week’s leading rider at around 4-7 but James Doyle, who rode the last two winners on the opening day, is now down to 15-8 (from an opening 5-1) with William Buick, who remains winnerless, is out to around 10-1.Fallen Angel,in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, andMap Of Stars,in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, are Doyle’s major hopes today, while all four of Moore’s rides on the card –True Love(2.30pm),Shackleton(3.05pm),Los Angeles(4.20pm) andThe Liffey(5pm) – are currently either favourite or second-favourite for their races.
A report on yesterday’s action with a quick stroll through today’s card ishere, more detailed previews of today’s seven races are on the way, and all the latest news, betting moves, results, quotes and more will be here on the live blog throughout the day.