just as it was two centuries ago<\/a> will offer at least some reassurance as worries about what the future might bring are parked for the next five days for a celebration of the best of British racing.<\/p>\nThe King and Queen will be in attendance for most or all of the days this week. Photograph: Yui Mok\/PA<\/p>\n
The Breeders\u2019 Cup in America has more Grade One races. Arc weekend at Longchamp has the richest event of the season and half a dozen Group Ones on a single afternoon.<\/p>\n
But neither can boast the variety or depth of quality that comes as standard at Royal Ascot, where the daily feature events at 4.20pm are joined by historic handicaps like the Wokingham and Royal Hunt Cup, where fields of up to 30 horses charge down the straight mile. Cheltenham\u2019s festival in March is often seen as a more competitive meeting overall, but the average SP of the winners has been higher at Ascot in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
It is a meeting that sets its stall out from the start, with a Group One at the top of the opening day card and two more in quick succession, and does not, by any reasonable assessment, have a single afternoon that ranks as either superior or inferior to the rest. Contrary to popular belief, in fact, Ladies\u2019 Day on Thursday \u2013 when the Gold Cup, first run in 1807, is the feature event \u2013 has never been marketed as such by the track itself. And while other tracks struggle to shift tickets for their main events, Ascot is trying to find space to accommodate nearly 400 visiting executives from tracks around the world, eager to find out for themselves how Britain\u2019s top racecourse seemingly goes from strength to strength.<\/p>\n
Without the grass-roots industry to support it, of course, the top of the pyramid would soon topple. So this week\u2019s Royal meeting, with the King and Queen in attendance for most or all of the days and horses drawn from around the world to compete, is a timely reminder that there are still some things that Britain does quite well and also, perhaps, that you do not know what you\u2019ve got \u2019til it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
Henri Matisse can take shine off Gold<\/p>\n
It adds an extra dimension to the St James\u2019s Palace Stakes when the three major Guineas winners from Newmarket, the Curragh and Longchamp are in the field and Epsom\u2019s loss is very much Royal Ascot\u2019s gain following the late scratching of Ruling Court, the 2,000 Guineas winner, from the Derby 10 days ago.<\/p>\n
Ruling Court was half a length in front of Field Of Gold at Newmarket but John & Thady Gosden\u2019s colt was finishing best of all after allowing Ruling Court to get first run, and subsequently trounced his field in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh.<\/p>\n
The market for Tuesday\u2019s feature race on day one at Royal Ascot very much takes the view that Field Of Gold was unlucky at Newmarket, and he is odds-on to reverse the form with Ruling Court.<\/p>\n
Aidan O\u2019Brien\u2019s Henri Matisse<\/strong> (4.20)<\/strong>, meanwhile, is third-favourite among the principals, despite having won the French 2,000 Guineas \u2013 around a right-handed bend on good-to-firm ground \u2013 with something to spare.<\/p>\nO\u2019Brien has two stable companions in the field to ensure a strong pace, the race should set up ideally for Ryan Moore\u2019s mount as a result and a price of around 7-2 looks more than fair for Henri Matisse to give his trainer a record-extending 10th win in the race.<\/p>\n
Royal Ascot 2.30<\/strong> The first four home in the Lockinge Stakes renew rivalry in the traditional opener to the meeting and Notable Speech, <\/strong>fourth at Newbury but less than three lengths behind the winner, could find the most improvement back on a fast surface.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 3.05<\/strong> Twelve of the 21 declared runners for the Coventry Stakes arrive here unbeaten, and American Gulf, <\/strong>who was well-backed before a decisive debut win at Windsor, could spring a minor surprise at around 10-1.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 3.40<\/strong> Last year\u2019s winner Asfoora <\/strong>arrives without a prep run this time around and is blinkered for the first time but she has won off a break in the past and is an obvious pick on last year\u2019s form.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 5.00<\/strong> All the focus is on Willie Mullins\u2019s Reaching High in the royal colours, but his stable companion Poniros, <\/strong>the 100-1 Triumph Hurdle winner in March, is potentially very well handicapped returning to the Flat and the booking of William Buick suggests he is far from just a second-string.<\/p>\nQuick GuideGreg Wood’s Tuesday tipsShow<\/p>\n
Stratford-On-Avon <\/b>2.05 Market House 2.40 Duel Au Soleil 3.13 Alshadian 3.50 Carigeen Kampala 4.30 A Dublin Job 5.10 Fillyfudge<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thirsk <\/b>2.15 Royal Fixation 2.50 Ghaiyya 3.23 Blue Anthem 4.00 Captain Vallo 4.40 Blue Rc 5.20 Golden Rainbow 5.50 Jojo Rabbit<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Royal Ascot <\/b>2.30 Notable Speech (nb) 3.05 American Gulf 3.40 Asfoora 4.20 Henri Matisse 5.00 Poniros 5.35 Ecureuil Secret (nap) 6.10 Charlus<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southwell <\/b>5.25 Frostmagic 5.55 Keldeo 6.30 Your Love 7.00 Irish Dancer 7.30 Panelli 8.00 Time Allowed 8.30 Petra Celera 9.00 Loch Leven<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beverley <\/b>6.15 Command The Stars 6.45 Forest Caper 7.15 Dumfries 7.45 Freddy Robinson 8.15 Little Ted 8.45 Triple Force<\/p>\n
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Royal Ascot 5.35<\/strong> This is a significant step up for Ecureuil Secret <\/strong>after a convincing handicap success at Epsom\u2019s Derby meeting but he already looks like a much-improved performer after being gelded over the winter.<\/p>\nRoyal Ascot 6.10<\/strong> Willie Mullins is going for a hat-trick in this 14-furlong handicap and while the lightly raced Charlus <\/strong>was beaten out of sight on his latest start in the Triumph Hurdle, he showed distinct promise in four starts on the Flat for Jean-Claude Rouget in France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of staff were putting the finishing touches to Ascot racecourse on Monday ahead of the five-day Royal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-189549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114694285188268834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}