Ian Ogg analyses the last 10 renewals of four races from Royal Ascot on Tuesday and picks out the key statistics.
The Queen Anne Stakes gets the meeting off to a flying start and the Group One has done the same for favourite backers in two of the last three years.
The exception was 12 months ago when Tepin saw off 9/2 joint-favourite Belardo but this year's American raiders are much longer in the market and this year's favourite, Ribchester, is significantly shorter.
Richard Fahey's four-year-old is the clear pick and can get Godolphin's meeting off to the best possible start.
* Winners have been aged four (5) and five (5).
* Winners have been priced between 1/10 and 15/2 with four favourites successful.
* Seven of the nine winners with Official Ratings were rated between 121 and 138.
* Nine winners had their preceding start in May, the exception was making his reappearance.
* Six winners had their previous outing in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
* Five winners won their preceding start and another finished second.
The Coventry Stakes has been dominated by Aidan O'Brien with four winners in the last decade, two more than Richard Hannon Senior whose son has saddled placed runners in the last two renewals.
Mark Johnston's horses regularly bust the stats and his Buratino is the only winner in this period to have been beaten prior to Royal Ascot and that stat is a negative for half the field.
Brother Bear holds leading claims for Jessica Harrington but at twice the price, take Denaar each-way to get Richard Hannon Junior on the board.
He's followed a similar route to the same connections Mehmas, who finished second last year, and is readily preferred to his shorter priced stablemate De Bruyne Horse who was turned over on debut.
* Winners have been priced between 13/8 and 20/1 with nine returned at 8/1 or less
* They have included six favourites (including joints).
* Winners have been drawn between 1 and 19 with four drawn in single figures.
* All of the winners won their preceding race.
* Only one winner had been beaten.
* Six winners had their preceding start in May (June three and April).
* Eight winners were favourite on their preceding start.
* Nine winners gained their first success by a margin of more than a length.
* Aidan O'Brien has won four renewals.
The King's Stand Stakes has a cosmopolitan look with four winners trained outside Britain and Ireland but the 'domestic' runners have held sway since Little Bridge's success in 2012.
Three of the four subsequent winners had their preceding start in the Temple Stakes, a race won by Priceless but she did disappoint on her only other start at Ascot.
With a rating of 110, she looks to have improvement to find in a strong renewal with the flying American filly Lady Aurelia setting the standard and Wesley Ward's star is preferred.
The only recent winner not to have contested the Temple Stakes was Sole Power who came direct from winning the Palace House Stakes, a race won by Abbaye heroine Marsha.
He was one of two dual winners of the King's Stand in the last 10 years, landing back to back renewals, while Equiano won as a three-year-old in 2008 and again in 2010.
* Winners have been aged three, four, five (2), six (5) and seven.
* Winners have been priced between 11/4 and 22/1 with seven in single figures, including two favourites.
* The seven winners with Official Ratings were rated between 111 and 117.
* Five winners won their preceding start with a further three finishing second and another fourth.
* Six winners had either won or been placed at Ascot previously.
* Five winners has already won a Group One.
* All of the winners had won a race during the current season.
There have been five odds-on winners of the St James's Palace Stakes and there could well be another in dual Guineas winner Churchill.
He may not have won on his two-year-old debut (he was third) but he hasn't been beaten since and can confirm his superiority over Newmarket second Barney Roy in what should be a fascinating duel.
* Winners have been priced between 3/10 and 9/1 with seven favourites (incl one joint) successful.
* Seven winners won on their two year old debut; two of the exceptions finished second.
* Winners had had between four and eight career starts.
* Winners had run between one and three times in the current season with eight winning at least once.
* All of the winners had their preceding start in a Classic. [French Derby, Irish Guineas (6), Epsom Derby, French Guineas and English Guineas. Eight winners contested the Newmarket Classic (finishing 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 1st).]
* Nine winners finished no worse than third in a Group One contest as a juvenile with the exception unraced at that level.
* Eight winners finished in the first four on their preceding start with six winning.
