Modern Games, with a CV that has five top-level victories in four different countries, has plenty to recommend him in the meeting’s curtain-raiser.
Many horses have been hailed as superstars despite achieving less than Charlie Appleby’s colt, who gets on with his job without the need for a fanfare of trumpets.
Having lifted the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November 2021 - he was scratched in error by the Del Mar vets before being allowed to take part - Dubawi’s son won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the French version of the 2,000 Guineas, at Longchamp the following May.
A voyage to Canada yielded success in the Woodbine Mile in September 2022 before Modern Games and William Buick flew home for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland seven weeks later.
A month ago, the four-year-old captured the first British Group 1 of his career with a length-and-a-half defeat of Chindit - the runner-up tried to bite Modern Games as he went past - in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, with Berkshire Shadow (third), Mutasaabeq (fifth) and Lusail (sixth) in arrears.
This most likeable performer sets the standard the others must aim for, and the recent resurgence of the Appleby yard, also represented by Native Trail , is another plus.
Inspiral returned from an absence to blitz her Coronation Stakes rivals in 2022 and is feared, with Cash the most appealing of those at bigger odds.
Asadna created a stirring impression with a winning debut at Ripon last month and is fancied to take his tally to 2-2.
Yorkshire’s charming Garden Racecourse may not be the most obvious place to begin a search for future champions.
But five-time Group 1 hero Halling won there as a three-year-old and the way Asadna started his career, in a six-furlong novice event in North Yorkshire 30 days ago, suggested he has a very bright future.
Sent off at 4-1, the 160,000-guineas breeze-up purchase hit the front under William Buick on the run to the final furlong and powered further and further clear to humble Fifty Grand Slater by 12 lengths.
The bare form of the race looks nothing to write home about - the runner up came home eighth of 12 behind Bobsleigh in Epsom’s Woodcote Stakes on Oaks day - but the performance sent the time anoraks into delirium.
George Boughey has quickly established himself as one of the rising stars of the training ranks - he saddled a double on the Royal Heath in 2022 - and another marquee victory.
Aidan O’Brien’s record of nine Coventry Stakes successes means River Tiber has to be taken seriously, while Givemethebeatboys and Fandom are just two other youngsters of considerable promise.
Manaccan has been popular in the ante-post King’s Stand Stakes betting - and it’s not hard to see why.
With a British Horseracing Authority rating of 111, John Ryan’s son of Exceed And Excel is a couple of lengths off favourite Highfield Princess .
But the four-year-old has a fine record over course and distance, having followed a close-up fifth in the Palace Of Holyroodhouse Handicap 12 months ago with victories in the Shergar Cup Dash in August and the Listed Rous Stakes two months later.
A Group 3 win in the Pat Smullen Mercury Stakes at Dundalk on his final start of last season meant Manaccan carried a penalty in the same-level Palace House Stakes on Newmarket’s 2,000 Guineas undercard.
And my selection emerged with plenty of credit in coming home third, beaten a length and a half, behind Vadream , with Raasel behind in fourth, Existent seventh, Twilight Calls ninth and Chipstead 11th.
The return to action should benefit Manaccan, who can use his 6lb pull with the winner to get Frankie Dettori’s final Royal Ascot off to the perfect start.
Highfield Princess, a three-time Group 1 heroine, heads the list of dangers, which also includes 2022 Queen Mary winner Dramatised and Australian challenger Canonball .
Paddington has made his way from handicapper to Classic hero - and he hasn’t finished yet.
How those who backed the Aidan O’Brien-saddled son of Siyouni to defy a handicap mark of 97 at Naas in March - Paddington had earned the rating with a five-length call in a Curragh maiden last October - must wish they’d had more on.
The handsome bay went on to lift the Listed Tetrarch Stakes back at the Curragh at the start of May before lining up for the Irish 2,000 Guineas 26 days later.
And Paddington duly brought his class to bear, surging to the front inside the final furlong to beat stablemate Cairo by a couple of lengths, with Charyn fourth, Galeron fifth and Royal Scotsman back in ninth.
Paddington’s unorthodox path to the top suggests even those closest to him don’t know how good he is, but the strong impression is that Ryan Moore’s mount is still a fair way from the bottom of the barrel.
Chaldean had Royal Scotsman in third when capturing the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket - Galeron came home in fourth, Charyn in eighth and Indestructible 10th - and the clash between the Guineas winners makes for a race to savour.
Cicero’s Gift , Mostabshir and Isaac Shelby can fight it out for the bronze.
Law Of The Sea is threatening to bag a big pot over a distance of ground - and today could be the day.
The son of Golden Horn had his first seven starts for John and Thady Gosden’s Clarehaven Stables, winning novice stakes at Kempton Park and Leicester in the first four months of 2021 and signing off for the yard with a third to subsequent St Leger bronze medallist Giavellotto in a one-mile, six-furlong handicap at Newmarket last August.
Law Of The Sea failed to beat a rival for trainer Bhupat Seemar in two attempts at Meydan at the beginning of the year, but his form since joining Ian Williams, twice an Ascot Stakes victor with The Grand Visir (2019) and Reshoun (2021), is much more like it.
My selection went off an unfancied 40-1 shot for the Chester Cup but ran well above those odds with a fourth, beaten a length and three-quarters, to Metier, with Zoffee ahead in second and Calling The Wind (sixth), The Grand Visir (ninth) and Tritonic (12th) in behind.
Law Of The Sea’s three-quarter-length second to Solent Gateway in a two-mile handicap at Haydock Park 24 days ago - Themaxwecan was third - rates another sound effort and the step up to two and a half miles, and a 1lb pull, will help the revenge bid.
The short list for the first handicap of the meeting is a long one, with Williams’ Zinc White , Irish Lullaby and favourite Bring On The Night another three worth a second glance.
Francesco Clemente lost his unbeaten record to King Of Conquest at Haydock Park last month - but vengeance is at hand.
Unraced at two, the John and Thady Gosden-saddled son of Dubawi built up a promising body of work last year, landing a maiden and handicap at Newmarket either side of a novice stakes at Sandown Park.
Francesco Clemente was sent off the 5-6 hotpot to keep the sequence going in the Listed Festival Stakes at Goodwood on his return.
But my selection didn’t help his cause by running wide on the home turn and went under by a neck after a tooth-and-nail scrap, during which the winner carried his rival towards the centre of the course.
A 3lb pull swings the weights and measures into Francesco Clemente’s favour and Rab Havlin’s mount fitted with cheekpieces here, gets the vote to turn things round.
Clarehaven stablemate Saga is due a change of luck and enters calculations, along with Cadillac , Solid Stone and Poker Face .
Chillingham has an attractive profile for his bid to give trainer Ed Bethell a first Royal Ascot triumph.
The second-time-out Pontefract maiden winner made a successful handicap debut at Thirsk last September, beating Molinari by three lengths.
And the gelded son of Ulysses returned to James Herriot country to follow up in a similar event, again over a mile and a half, at the beginning of April.
Callum Rodriguez didn’t have to get serious with Chillingham en route to a two-length beating of Zimmerman, so a 7lb rise in the handicap was only to be expected.
With a good deal of as-yet untapped potential to draw up, Chillingham, who promises to be well served by the additional two furlongs here, should not be underestimated.
Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham Festival scorer Vauban , who heads the market and looks well treated on his Flat form from France, is an obvious name to throw into the melting pot, along with Postileo , Aaddeey and Point King .
ROYAL ASCOT
2.30 MODERN GAMES
3.05 ASADNA
3.40 MANACCAN
4.20 PADDINGTON (NAP)
5.00 LAW OF THE SEA
5.35 FRANCESCO CLEMENTE
6.10 CHILLINGHAM (NB)
