Royal Ascot ready for showpiece meeting

Racing’s most glamorous fixture gets under way on Tuesday as the five-day Royal Ascot meeting starts.

More than 250,000 racegoers are expected during the week at the Berkshire track and warm, dry weather is expected.

Three top-level Group One races feature on the first day with French challengers Facteur Cheval and Big Rock among the contenders in the opening Queen Anne Stakes.

Big Evs lines up in the King Charles III Stakes, while the St James’s Palace Stakes sees a rematch between the 2,000 Guineas 1-2 Notable Speech and Rosallion.

Unbeaten Notable Speech is seeking a fifth career victory for trainer Charlie Appleby and owners Godolphin.

He is expected to start favourite against Richard Hannon’s Rosallion, who went on to win the Irish Guineas. Rivals include Henry Longfellow, trained by Aidan O’Brien.

Royal Ascot starts on Tuesday, 18 June and finishes on Saturday, 22 June.

There are seven races each day – 35 in all – with total prize money of £10m on offer.

Racing starts at 14:30 BST each day, with the final contest at 18:15.

Sunny spells and light winds are forecast, with temperatures expected to reach about 22C.

The going on Tuesday was described as good to firm after 5mm of watering to maintain ground conditions.

14:30 Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) one mile

15:05 Coventry Stakes (Group 2) Six furlongs

15:45 King Charles III Stakes (Group 1) five furlongs

16:25 St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1) one mile

17:05 Ascot Stakes (Class 2 handicap) two miles, four furlongs

17:40 Wolferton Stakes (Listed) one mile, two furlongs

18:15 Copper Horse Stakes (Class 2 handicap) one mile, six furlongs

Wednesday: Auguste Rodin, winner of the English and Irish Derbys for O’Brien last season, is favourite for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in the absence of White Birch, who beat him at the Curragh last time out. Inspiral has been rerouted here from the Queen Anne Stakes.

Thursday: The Gold Cup is the feature race on Ladies’ Day, when O’Brien’s 2022 victor Kyprios will look to become the first horse to regain the title since Kayf Tara 24 years ago. The race will finish about half an hour before England’s Euro 2024 match against Denmark kicks off and big screens will show the match at the course.

Friday: There's two Group One races on the penultimate day. Elite Status is among the top sprinters set to contest the Commonwealth Cup but Vandeek and Bucanero Fuerte have been ruled out, while Opera Singer and 1,000 Guineas winner Elmalka head the fillies in the Coronation Stakes.

Saturday: Kinross will bid to make it third time lucky for trainer Ralph Beckett in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, having finished eighth and seventh in the race previously. The Wokingham Stakes handicap race will once again prove a tricky puzzle for punters to solve.

It is not yet known whether King Charles III and Queen Camilla will attend to watch any of the horses they own.

Desert Hero gave the King his first winner at Royal Ascot with victory in the King George V Stakes last year, and is entered for the Hardwicke Stakes on Saturday.

Jockey Frankie Dettori will be back at the meeting, but not riding this time as he promotes a restaurant hospitality venture. He competed for the last time in Britain at Ascot in October before switching to the United States.

His absence gives Ryan Moore, O’Brien’s stable jockey, the chance to become the most successful current rider at the meeting – he is two behind Dettori’s mark of 81 victories.

It is also a big week for James Doyle, the first rider for Wathnan Racing, who have been on a spending spree before Ascot, snapping up the likes of Haatem, Shartash and Space Legend.

Wathnan - owned by Sheikh Tamim, the emir of Qatar – were successful with Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami and Queen's Vase victor Gregory last year.