Royal Ascot Tips: Lady’s Day set to come early in the King’s Stand?
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A five-day feast of flat racing gets underway from Royal Ascot this afternoon with six live races across ITV and ITV4.
Tuesday’s offering includes a trio of Group 1 clashes, including a battle royale between Lady Aurelia and Battaash in the King’s Stand Stakes.
Ed Chamberlin and co. will be on hand to cover all of the action, while the Ladbrokes News Team have marked your card with tips for every race on day one in Berkshire…
Forget Ladies Day on Thursday, today is the Lady’s Day. Wesley Ward’s filly has hacked up on both her previous starts in this part of the world, landing the King’s Stand Stakes by 3l last year.
She’s back to defend her crown over 5f this time around after a hat-trick of defeats at York, Del Mar and Keeneland.
Don’t let that sequence put you off, though. This is her battleground and up against the often erratic Battaash, we’re confident she can retain her title and her unbeaten record at Royal Ascot.
The Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes kicks things off at Ascot, and it’s Rhododendron who is taken to bloom over the 1m distance.
Aidan O’Brien’s star is a three-time top-level winner and comes into this off the back of an impressive narrow success over Lightning Spear in the Lockinge Stakes.
She showed that day that she can handle the reduction in trip. And with everything in her favour at Ascot – including a handy weight allowance – we think she can get the better of her rivals once again over the shorter distance.
Without Parole, US Navy Flag and Romanised are fighting it out at the top of the market for the St James’s Palace Stakes. But it’s something a little further down the list that piques our interest.
Gabr finished less than a length behind the foremost of that trio on her reappearance at Sandown and is almost certain to come on stronger for it.
The three-year-old colt out of Intello will get good-to-firm ground for the first time, which could also help his cause.
And with the market leaders not boasting any particular standout form, we think there could be an each-way shock about to unfold in the final Group 1 contest of the day.
ITV Racing Tips:
- 2:30 Ascot – Rhododendron (NB)
- 3:05 Ascot – Sergei Prokofiev
- 3:40 Ascot – Lady Aurelia (NAP)
- 4:20 Ascot – Gabr (Lively Longshot, each-way)
- 5:00 Ascot – Whiskey Sour
- 5:35 Ascot – Big Country (each-way)
All Odds and Markets correct as of date and publication
