Royal Ascot Day 1

It’s the first day of five cracking days racing at Royal Ascot. Horses from around the world descend on Berkshire, there’s no other flat fixture quite like it. Unfortunately, the meeting will start on soft or even heavy ground due to all the recent rain. It’s also tipped down this morning.

It’s a huge shame we don’t have proper good ground, this suits everybody and ensures it’s a level playing field. Quite a few top class horses aren’t’ running because of the going and its highly likely we will see more as the weeks goes on. Proven soft form is a must this week so do watch your bets.

Today’s racing starts with the Queen Anne Stakes, Group 1. I’m with the French trained Ervedya. She will have improved for her seasonal effort whilst most importantly has soft ground form in the book. 5-1 EW looks ok and Ervedya should run well.

The King stands sake at 3:40 has seen some proper horses not declared due to the conditions. The race will still take some winning but maybe isn’t as strong as normal.

Not an original selection but Mecca’s Angel looks the one to beat, best priced 2-1. She handles soft, and should reverse form with Profitable now with a run under her belt. At a bigger price the Ed Walker trained Aeolus could reward EW support at 33-1. The horse will enjoy this stiff five furlongs and doesn't have much to find on the form book with Profitbale.

I was very taken by The Gurkha when taking the French 2,000 Guineas, Ryan Moore thinks he’s the real deal so that will do for me. The St James’s Palace Stakes looks to be one of the best races of the week with three Guineas winners taking each other on. I’m with The Gurkha though and think he will take a bit of beating, best priced 13/10.