Royal Ascot 2026 jury following the six-day entries for day one

The meeting starts with a bang with the G1 Queen Anne. Are you for or against Notable Speech?

Matt Brocklebank: Ribchester, Palace Pier and Baaeed are the three Lockinge winners to have followed up in the Queen Anne over the past decade and I suppose at his best Notable Speech could be put into that sort of bracket (though Baaeed was clearly a notch or two above the rest). However, the key question is whether Charlie Appleby’s horse can produce his best over the stiff mile at Ascot and on evidence to this point, there has to be a doubt.

Ben Linfoot: As a general rule I’ll happily take on short-priced favourites on the Ascot straight course all day long. Add in a 0/2 record at Royal Ascot, including in this race, and the urge to apply that rule increases. Add in some ropey stable form and a handful of opponents with the potential to improve and – you guessed it. Against.

David Ord: On the basis that stablemate Opera Ballo won’t turn up to take him on, I’d have to be firmly with the favourite in the opener. He oozed class in the Lockinge last time, travelling sweetly and showing the push-button acceleration that is a difference-maker at this level. As much as More Thunder has more to offer as a miler, that Docklands loves the track, Damysus might be well served by a strongly-run race at the trip, Notable Speech is the best horse in the Queen Anne. But if Opera Ballo was to turn up, it might not be by all that much…

Nic Doggett: Against at the current prices, but if he drifted nearer the race to around 3/1 then I’d be interested. He will be the last off the bridle, was value for more than the winning margin in the Lockinge, and assuming he avoids the trouble he found in last year’s renewal then he has all the attributes needed to produce a very highly-rated performance as this looks arguably the strongest field since Solow’s 2015 win.

Is there a domestically-trained sprinter that can put it up to the strong overseas challenge in the G1 King Charles III Stakes?

Ben Linfoot: I doubt it. Our sprinters simply aren’t up to scratch with the second tier of overseas raiders in this division and the likes of Overpass and Joliestar look a notch above Asfoora. The good thing is everybody knows this and we could be looking at some juicy prices about the home team, but any each-way swing will be more in hope than expectation.

Matt Brocklebank: It’s certainly going to be tough as Francis Graffard’s Rayevka looks a big player to go along with whichever Australians show up on day one too, but I’ve been on the lookout for something at a price and Rosy Affair deserves a mention. She’s been extremely consistent throughout her career but I suspect George Boughey has her operating at a higher level this term based on last month’s Haydock effort. It was a Listed race she was entitled to win but I liked how she went about her business, arguably getting to the front soon enough before dossing a little in the last furlong. Billy Loughnane’s record on the filly reads 2121221121 and I can see her outrunning odds of 33/1 or thereabouts at the time of writing.

Nic Doggett: Everything went to plan for American Affair last year – drawn near the rapid Regional and getting the splits – but the form just isn’t exciting (no offence Frost At Dawn), is it? Night Raider’s beating of AA at Haydock is the pick of the domestic form this season, but I think there’s a new kid on the block in the form of 10/1 chance Mission Central. He won over six furlongs at Ascot in October but has been campaigned over the minimum trip since, with the application of an unsightly dark sheepskin noseband appearing to have a very positive effect in two Listed wins at Naas this spring. He’s quick, and his awkward head carriage when challenged certainly doesn’t mean he’s ungenuine; in fact, it might even help him go under the radar.

David Ord: Night Raider is the obvious one given he’s been a revelation since being gelded over the winter. Too quick for his rivals from the front end on his return at Newmarket, I was more impressed that he was able to win the Temple Stakes having had to take cover after missing the break. But I prefer last year’s winner of this race – and Haydock second – American Affair of the home contingent. He needs a fiercely-run five furlongs to be at his best and should have that served up to him on a plate on Tuesday. The Temple run was the perfect tee-up for his title defence and he looks to hold very solid each-way claims at a double-figure price.

The G1 St James’s Palace Stakes looks a cracker – who will be most suited by running on the round course?

David Ord: I think it’s potentially Gstaad who will find the right-handed turn for home in Berkshire much gentler than the left-handed ones he whizzed around at Del Mar in the autumn. It’s interesting to hear Aidan O’Brien talk too about their confidence he can get closer to Bow Echo this time, floating the idea that the 2000 Guineas winner was on a better part of the track on the first Saturday of May and at an advantage in the race as a result. There’s a Ballydoyle pacemaker in there to tow him along and you’d imagine Gstaad will be looking to get first run this time. It doesn’t mean I think he’ll beat Bow Echo, but he’ll ask him a different question.

Matt Brocklebank: We just don’t know is the honest answer here as Bow Echo has only once raced around a bend in his career and that was going the other way around at Haydock as a two-year-old. He looks a pretty uncomplicated – and very classy – colt on the face of it but this will definitely be different and Aidan O’Brien has also entered Flushing Meadows, Neolithic and Puerto Rico so there could be one or two ‘spoilers’ for Loughnane to negotiate, as well as old rival Gstaad who winged around the bend (albeit another left-handed) when successful at the Breeders’ Cup. I’ve got a lot of time of Sandown winner Talk Of New York as well so I wonder if the best ploy might be to lay the favourite at short odds (win and place potentially) and have the others running for me.

Ben Linfoot: Great question. It’s one of the things those punters who take Bow Echo on will be clinging to as he is yet to race around a right-handed bend. That’s not the case with Rayif who railed well in the French 2000 Guineas, but he will likely have to answer a significantly different ground question. Like Dave and Matt also suggest, I think the round course and the potential set up here might suit Gstaad the best and I wouldn’t be that surprised if he reverses the 2000 Guineas form.

Nic Doggett: There hasn’t really been a hard-and-fast rule on what sort of horse wins this race – there's been a fairly even spread of prominent and hold-up performances this century – but the most important attribute has been class. Clearly that’s no issue for Bow Echo, and he handled the bend fine on his second start at Haydock, but the most interesting horse for me is Rayif. He was rushed into the French 2000 Guineas last time after missing potential prep races, but cornered like a pro on the rail and Mickael Barzalona was able to get him onto the lead 300 metres out without resorting to the whip (at that point). He’s trained by an absolute master, this race was always the plan, and he can confirm that he’s a quicker, better horse than Puerto Rico and lay down a huge challenge to Bow Echo and Gstaad.

WATCH: The Betfred 2000 Guineas

What else catches the eye from the six-day entries for day one of Royal Ascot?

Ben Linfoot: Interesting to see Ascending in the Copper Horse Stakes over 1m6f for Henry de Bromhead. He won the Ascot Stakes over 2m4f at this meeting last year (which he is also entered for again on the same card), then ran a cracker when second over this trip in the Sky Bet Ebor at York and I'd quite like to see him over the 1m6f trip at Ascot, for all that he could bid to go back-to-back in the 2m4f race. Those two bits of very good form here and at York is clear evidence he loves fast ground and after his tee-up job in the Sagaro I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to his peak 2025 form back in handicap company on day one. Let's see which race he ends up in.

Matt Brocklebank: 30 entries for the Wolferton Stakes tells you all you need to know about how hard it’s going to be to win what must be the best Listed contest anywhere and last year’s first four are all back for another bite at the cherry. Naqeeb is clearly a little bit of a monkey but he’s a talented old boy and I could see him running huge for Julie Camacho. He was the best horse at the weights when short-headed by Boiling Point at Goodwood last month, the winner not letting the form down in Group 3 company at Epsom since, and I reckon a strongly-run, stiff 10 furlongs on quick ground is just about tailormade.

David Ord: A couple of Joseph O’Brien staying handicappers who both hold entries the Ascot Stakes and Golden Horse and who kept each other company in the Chester Cup last time too. It didn’t particularly happen for either on the Roodee. Galileo Dame did very well to finish fourth in the end having dwelt and been faced with traffic throughout. Everything about her suggests an even sterner test of stamina can bring about further improvement and she’d get that in the Ascot Stakes. Even though he won the Irish Cesarewitch, the Golden Horse might be the race for Puturhandstogether. What he ideally wants is a big field and a strong pace to aim at and was sent off favourite at Chester despite having the worst of the draw. He never looked like being able to defy it after been dropped in but passed plenty of his rivals late. He might be a hostage to fortune again in Berkshire but there’s definitely some unfinished business when it comes to these valuable staying handicaps.

Nic Doggett: Siouxperb’s trainer Archie Watson has made a point of targeting the two-year-old races at this meeting; as a fledgling trainer, he won the Windsor Castle in 2018 with Soldier’s Call, and then landed the Coventry with the once-raced Bradsell in 2022. A son of Norfolk winner Sioux Nation, Siouxperb had the experience of a barrier trial at Lingfield under his belt but still looked very green when making a winning racecourse debut at Yarmouth in April. Despite this, he won with ease from subsequent dual winner O’Gorman, and it was notable how hard he hit the line having been on his own on the front throughout. Sent off 4/6 that day, he’d clearly been showing plenty at home and this Group 2 has been the plan for some time it seems (interestingly he was bought by new connections on Monday). I really fancy him to run a huge race against yet another strong Aidan O’Brien team, led by Great Barrier Reef.

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