Royal Ascot Day One Preview - 18/06/2019

The first race of the five day Royal Ascot festival is the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and what a race we have in store to start the prestigious meeting.

There are two horses in the contest that we fancy and first we will start with Charlie Appleby's Barney Roy who this season has returned to racing after struggling at stud.

He was a Group 1 winner back in 2017 in the St James's Palace Stakes and this season he is coming into form nicely with a decent Listed win at Longchamp on his second start.

That came on soft ground but he is also very versatile on quicker ground and he is a horse to be taken very seriously.

Our outside shout in what is a very open Group 1 contest is the Dermot Weld trained Hazapour who last time out landed a decent Group 3 contest at Leopardstown and off the back of that run he well and truly enters calculations.

The second race of the day is another very open affair with plenty of runners in with a chance of landing the Group 2 Coventry stakes over six furlongs.

Again we have two selections in this packed contest and the first is the Richard Hannon trained THREAT who looks to be a very useful recruit for the yard.

This two year old is held in very high regard by his trainer and after only having one start he has impressed a lot of people in the racing world.

On his debut he was superb when winning well on 1000 Guineas day at Newmarket and he looks one of the likely types to take this contest if handling the big field.

Our outside selection is the Archie Watson trained GUILDSMAN who is another who made a name for himself by winning well on debut at Goodwood at the start of the month and if improving from that run he has to be considered with Oisin Murphy on board.

Back to another Group 1 contest on the day and the King's Stands Stakes over five furlongs has the majority of the best sprinting horses on the planet.

We have sided with the favourite for trainer Charlie Hills in Battaash, who on his day is the quickest horse in the sport and this season looks to be back to his best.

He made his seasonal debut at Haydock in the Group 2 Temple Stakes where he blitzed the field, with some of those being his opponents again this Tuesday.

His trainer has been very happy with his preparation and his work at home heading into the Group 1 contest and although needing to reverse last years form, he is the one to beat.

King Of Comedy looks a highly improving colt and is our selection to take the feature on day one of Royal Ascot in the St James's Palace Stakes over a mile.

The John Gosden trained three year old is unbeaten on both his starts this season and although he looks the second string from this yard he holds a big chance.

His last race sets him up perfectly for this contest when winning the Listed Heron Stakes and if he progresses like he has throughout this season he has a live chance but this will be his toughest contest to date.

The penultimate contest on this six race card is the Ascot Stakes over a marathon distance and in this race that has been dominated by Willie Mullins in the past we are hoping he can do the same again.

Our first selection is Buildmeupbuttercup for Mullins who has won four of the last seven renewals of this contest and with Ryan Moore opting to ride this mare it makes her interesting.

Our each way shout Comes from Nicky Henderson's yard and Gunnery back in 2016 was not far away in the Queen's Vase at this meeting and although being off the track for some time has a decent chance.

The final race of the day is the Listed Wolfreton Stakes and we have two fancies in this contest, the first being Elarqam for trainer Mark Johnston and the other being John Gosden's Star Of Bengal.

Starting with Elarqam and this colt looks to be the leading contender in this race after winning nicely at Goodwood last time out over 1 mile 2f, beating some nice rivals in a Listed contest.

The other fancy is Star Of Bengal and he is more of an each way option after being very progressive with each run and although the draw is not great he has a lot of potential to go well seeking a hat-trick.