Our columnist is back with his guide to Royal Ascot 2026 and some of the big clashes that lie ahead.
Nothing artificial about Ascot intelligence
Those who insist that Epsom provides the toughest mile and a half test around should try legging it from the racecourse to the station on a slippery road while carrying a heavy backpack.
My choppy action wouldn’t have impressed the Striding Bros as I wheezed onto the 6.19 to Victoria last Saturday with various thoughts of how to tell the tale of a bizarre Derby fighting for headspace.
The idea of asking the Sportinglife lads to dress BHA stewarding supremo Shaun Parker up in a green furry suit for a ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ graphic was one option, as was asking ChatGPT to break down a weird and worrisome day on the Downs.
Suffice to say that, when a friend finally fed the AI goat with Saturday’s key components, the resultant comment piece convinced me that many jobbing scribblers will be declared non-runners with zero chance of a justice refund before too long.
Maybe we should take the Kent Brockman line – because I, for one, welcome our new information overlords - but Pope Leo entered the chat recently to argue that no machine can truly replace what the human mind and heart are capable of.
On balance, I’m still content to roll with the Pontiff as Royal Ascot beckons.
The tyrannical tech bros haven’t been called in to sort out racing’s rule book yet, though things could get distinctly awkward if a few star horses play up at the gates this week.
But the weather is improving as we move into the second half of June.
A truly great race meeting will break out amid the pomp and pageantry and, in the hope that old school film and form work still has a place, let’s hope the following hints for the first three days give the chatbots a run for their money.
Tuesday
A Speech to set tongues wagging
All eyes on the stalls for any sign of a stray leg in the air that could see the expulsion tool brandished again.
The Ascot Commissars will be on high alert all week after the Derby drama, but they’ll have to go some to match the hanging judges of the 1974 panel, who watched a driving finish to the Queen Anne before tossing all the first three out.
I wouldn’t dream of tossing NOTABLE SPEECH from this year’s Queen Anne calculations because things haven’t gone his way in two visits to Ascot – but I do wonder whether his fiery stablemate OPERA BALLO will relax well enough to replicate his saloon passage Sandown form over this unforgiving straight mile.
It looks like Aidan is determined to test whether BOW ECHO is brave as well as brilliant by running at least one pacemaker for GSTAAD in a compelling St James’s Palace.
A hard gallop would also suit TALK OF NEW YORK, coming fashionably late to the party after his Sandown romp, but my only strong view here is that we could be talking about traffic trouble come the rush hour.
CONFUCIUS has been Aidan’s one for money in the Coventry after his impressive Naas win, while GREAT BARRIER REEF was very strong at the end of the Marble Hill.
The Curragh contest has been a strong Coventry trial over the years (Power, Caravaggio, Blackbeard) over the years and don’t forget that Confucius himself said: “Study the past if you would define the future.”
Evidence from recent years suggests that studying the past can be a shaky guide to future events in Europe’s chaotic sprint division.
With that in mind, rapid Aussie raider OVERPASS should set the Euros a fair target in the King Charles III, and don’t be surprised if last year’s winner AMERICAN AFFAIR goes close again given how well his stalking style lends itself to Ascot.
Then we come to the Ascot Stakes and royal runner REACHING HIGH’s bid to make up for getting locked in heavy traffic as 11/4 favourite twelve months ago.
King Charles clearly isn’t one for grudges, as Ryan Moore has snagged an MBE in the Birthday Honours List, and this son of Gold Cup heroine Estimate has the look of a long-term plot.
But 3/1 for a horse who hasn’t run for a year is no bargain and, in any case, Henry and Joseph can give Willie a run for his money at priming a stayer for the big day.
Last year’s winner ASCENDING is only 2lb higher than when second in the Ebor. His high cruising speed will be handy if things get tactical again, while Irish Cesarewitch winner PUTURHANDSTOGETHER got no luck in the Chester Cup and looks one of the most interesting handicappers of the day as he bids to continue Joseph’s golden run.
Wednesday
Ground a factor in Ombudsman appeal
Alex Hammond and the Sky Sports Racing team are poised in their pitch above the paddock, but jovial Josh Apiafi is sadly absent amid rumours that his GamScore app made an ‘interesting intervention’ by exploding in his pocket after some day-one losers.
Back on the track, memories from a bygone age come flooding back when studying the potential duel between DARYZ and OMBUDSMAN in the Prince of Wales’s.
Godolphin blue thwarted Aga Khan green as Dubai Millennium monstered Sendawar in 2000, but this showdown will surely be much closer with three more proven G1 performers adding spice to the mix.
Fast ground and a true pace might tilt the scales towards last year’s runaway winner Ombudsman, but I suspect most readers would prefer a little guidance on Wednesday’s excellent supporting card.
You can’t go banco on a filly whose sole run in well over a year saw her pulled up. That said, former G1 winner FRIENDLY SOUL was travelling powerfully when she stepped in that Haydock hole and her 2024 best makes her a danger to all in the Duke of Cambridge.
Early quotes of 6/1 the field tell the tale of a very tricky Queen Mary, but the Queen’s Vase and Royal Hunt Cup feature a handful of horses with solid each way claims.
The 8/1 about ENDORSEMENT will be gone in a hurry if Aidan opts for the Vase rather than the Friday’s Edward VII, while ASAKIR caught the eye travelling powerfully until worn down by LIMESTONE at Navan and the fact that Johnny Murtagh fancies another crack at the winner seems significant.
Now to the Hunt Cup, a race full of bang-in-form horses, potential draw dilemmas and a nervous wait to see whether at least one likely lad gets a run.
TRIBAL CHIEF impressed in winning a Goodwood handicap that worked out extremely well last August and he’s looked like a big winner in waiting amid serious traffic problems in the Lincoln and Victoria Cup this term.
But there’s always a catch, isn’t there?
David Menuisier’s gelding is rated 93, just one agonising pound lower than last year’s cut-off point. He’s no sure thing to get into Thursday’s Buckingham Palace Handicap over seven furlongs, either, but if he does sneak in at the bottom of the weights then the hint could prove well worth taking.
Thursday
The bars are doing a roaring trade after England beat Croatia in Dallas overnight and beer goggles aren’t the only form of unusual eyewear on display as day three dawns.
The mighty Yeats is the only eight-year-old to land the Gold Cup in over a century and he’s also one of very few to land Europe’s premier staying prize on his first run of the season.
And now here comes TRAWLERMAN trying to match both feats simultaneously with a pair of snazzy dark goggles to complete the ensemble during the preliminaries.
Timeform don’t have a metric to predict how light sensitivity impacts performance and, for all that he was tremendous in breaking the track record last year, it’s very hard to know what to expect as the old champ takes on young thrusters SCANDINAVIA and RAHIEBB.
A stirring Leger duel shows there is little between this pair - and they’ve both progressed from three to four - but one is 6/4 with the other at 9/2.
Scandi supporters will lean hard on the reasonable notion that he just doesn’t do any more than necessary once he sees the front nowadays.
But the presumptive heir to the Kyprios crown had to work hard to subdue a 105-rated rival at Leopardstown - and Rahiebb’s smooth Yorkshire Cup success makes him a very dangerous foe as he tackles an extreme trip for the first time.
The Hampton Court and the Chesham have both been happy hunting grounds for Ballydoyle over the years and early prices suggest that Aidan will supply the market leader for both contests again this year.
CAUSEWAY has earned his place at the top of the Hampton Court lists, completing a four timer in courageous style at the Curragh, but do note that he will have to shoulder a 4lb penalty for that G3 success.
Another Thursday point to note relates to trends for the two-year-old race that opens the card.
Aidan has won five of the last ten editions of the Chesham, including with subsequent stars like Churchill and September, but he’s also saddled several fancied horses who didn’t live up to their billing in that same period.
Aix la Chapelle is the latest cab off the O’Brien rank, turning out quickly after his Curragh debut success last week, but he didn’t do enough there to warrant being installed as 6-4 favourite in my book.
Second favourite Sea Venture, who exploited a pace collapse in the Haydock mud on her debut, is another who may not have quite the chance the market suggests.
But NOLA SOUL could go off at a fair bit shorter than the current general 12/1 if Fozzy Stack lets him take his chance.
Maybe I’m overthinking things in recalling that The Foz saddled The Secretadversary to finish a battling second in last year’s Chesham after making a promising debut at Leopardstown five weeks previously.
But it shouldn’t be forgotten that Nola Soul went one better than his smart stablemate in that same maiden on his racecourse bow.
He did so in very encouraging fashion, coming home powerfully despite looking very green, and it wouldn’t surprise to see this good-looking son of Justify (also the sire of Aix la Chapelle) shorten significantly in the market by the time Thursday comes around.
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