Unbeaten thoroughbred Baaeed and two of the best sprinters in the world open the show at Royal Ascot 2022.
Crowds return to the huge sporting event to see Australia's Nature Strip and American hope Golden Pal race for top honours in the King's Stand Stakes. Up against the star pair is the Queen's first runner of the week, King's Lynn, who tries to better his seventh place from 12 months ago.
Later in the classy programme, Reach For The Moon is the big hope carrying the royal silks in Thursday's Hampton Court Stakes. Ladbrokes’ Nicola McGeady said: “A win for him will be a disaster for us. He is 4-5 now and one of our worst results of the week. We don’t want to take a penny more.”
As well as Baaeed, impressive 2,000 Guineas hero Coroebus is odds for for his Tuesday assignment, the St James's Palace Stakes.
The form has been franked by his Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate Native Trail, who took the Irish version of the Classic.
Newsboy's tips for day one of Royal Ascot 2022
2.30
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 BAAEED
2 REAL WORLD
3 ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
BAAEED cannot sensibly be opposed as he bids to defend his unbeaten record with a first victory at Royal Ascot.
He didn’t race until June of his three-year-old season, but the William Haggas trainee more than made up for lost time in 2021, rising through the ranks with successes at Leicester, Newmarket (twice) and Goodwood before taking on Group 1 opposition for the first time in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp in Paris last September.
The son of Sea The Stars passed that test with flying colours, beating Order Of Australia by a length and a quarter, and Baaeed doubled at the top level when denying Palace Pier by a neck in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot the following month.
Jim Crowley’s mount was sent off the 4-9 hotpot to rack up a seventh career win in Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes on his return, and Baaeed powered away from eight rivals to beat Real World by three and a quarter lengths, with Chindit third and Sir Busker in fourth.
That performance earned him the accolade of the planet’s best racehorse so it will rank as the shock of the week if his colours are lowered for the first time.
The podium horses from the Lockinge once again enter the picture when it comes to the minor medals, but Order Of Australia is capable of running above his odds.
3.05
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 BRADSELL
2 BLACKBEARD
3 ROYAL SCOTSMAN
BRADSELL could hardly have been more impressive on his debut and fully merits the step up to Group 2 level.
A colt from the first crop of smart sprinter Tasleet, my selection didn’t break the bank as a £47,000 breeze-up purchase in April, making his debut at York last month.
Sent off the 9-4 favourite in a field of 11, Bradsell and PJ McDonald, who makes way for Hollie Doyle this afternoon, travelled strongly before streaking away to score by nine lengths.
The form of that race is hard to pin down with certainty – the runner-up is now a four-race maiden, while the fourth home won next time out – but what is not up for debate is the authority of the Archie Watson trainee’s win.
The evidence of his first appearance on a racecourse is that Bradsell will be well up to holding his own in Pattern company – and he can prove the point here.
Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes record – the Ballydoyle maestro seeks a 10th win – means that Blackbeard is feared, along with Persian Force and Royal Scotsman.
3.40
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 NATURE STRIP
2 GOLDEN PAL
3 KING’S LYNN
NATURE STRIP is preferred to market rival Golden Pal in an inter-continental clash of the speedsters to make the mouth water.
Trained in Sydney by New Zealander Chris Waller, the seven-year-old Nature Strip has a record of 20 wins from 37 starts in his homeland – where competition among the sprinters is strong – including no fewer than eight triumphs at the highest level.
Having signed off for 2021 with a thumping Group 1 victory at Fleming during Melbourne’s Spring Carnival in November, Nature Strip was unlucky to be beaten by stablemate Home Affairs at the same track in February.
James McDonald’s partner underperformed when third at Randwick the following month, but was back to his brilliant best with a top-tier score at the Sydney course four weeks later.
International handicappers agree that Nature Strip is the best blink-and-you’ll-miss-me merchant on the planet, and he is confidently expected to follow compatriots Choisir (2003), Takeover Target (2006), Miss Andretti (2007) and Scenic Blast (2009) to give Australia a fifth King’s Stand Stakes success.
Wesley Ward’s Golden Pal is entitled to maximum respect despite defeats on his two previous visits to Britain, while Twilight Calls and the Queen’s King’s Lynn look the pick of the home contingent.
4.20
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 MY PROSPERO
2 COROEBUS
3 NEW ENERGY
MY PROSPERO is a going-places three-year-old who looks capable of ensuring hot favourite Coroebus does not have things all his own way.
Having run a full-of-promise third at Newmarket last October on his sole outing at two, William Haggas’s well-related son of Iffraaj duly went two places better on Newbury’s Greenham Stakes undercard in April.
Haggas then sent My Prospero to tackle the Queen’s Reach For The Moon in the one-mile Heron Stakes – the pair dominated the market for the Listed contest as the 7-4 joint-favourites – at Sandown Park last month.
Sent in pursuit of the royal runner by Tom Marquand with two furlongs to race, My Prospero struck the front 150 yards from the line before galloping on strongly to score by a length and a quarter.
It’s worthy of note that Haggas opts to send this most promising colt up to the highest level – and My Prospero can find the progress necessary to repay his trainer’s faith.
As a 2,000 Guineas hero with just one defeat on his CV, Charlie Appleby’s Coroebus stands out on form and isn’t taken on lightly, but his chance is reflected in his short odds.
Maljoom and New Energy can fight it out for the bronze medal.
5.00
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 COLTRANE
2 BRING ON THE NIGHT
3 ARCADIAN HEIGHTS
COLTRANE, denied by a well-handicapped Cleveland – and an inspired Ryan Moore – at Chester, looks sure to give a good account of himself.
Mastercraftsman’s son made great strides as a stayer two years ago, completing a hat-trick of wins with a four-length supremacy in the Melrose Handicap at York’s 2020 Ebor Festival.
The Andrew Balding trainee was off games for 396 days after his defeat in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket seven weeks later, and is yet to get his head in front in five attempts since his return at Kempton Park in November.
But a neck defeat by the Aidan O’Brien-saddled Cleveland in the Chester Cup – Arcadian Heights finished fourth and Reshoun 10th – showed Coltrane is still a force to be reckoned with in big-field grinders’ handicaps.
A 3lb rise was to be expected and, with a first try at two and a half miles expected to play to the strengths of Callum Hutchinson’s mount, Coltrane gets the vote to go one better.
The fact Willie Mullins has saddled four of the past seven winners means Bring On The Night comes into the reckoning, as does Gordon Elliott’s Pied Piper.
5.35
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 JUAN ELCANO
2 HARROVIAN
3 NEW MANDATE
JUAN ELCANO is primed to repeat his victory in this race of 12 months ago.
The Kevin Ryan-saddled son of Frankel made full use of identical conditions – a mile and a quarter on fast ground – to pounce late and beat Patrick Sarsfield by half a length last June.
Juan Elcano then moved up to Group 2 level for the York Stakes on the Knavesmire the following month, and came with a head of victory behind Bangkok.
Andrea Atzeni’s mount was then outclassed behind Mishriff in York’s Group 1 Juddmonte International before a below-par third on a rain-softened playing surface in the Group 3 Doonside Cup at Ayr in September.
Juan Elcano finished a length and a half behind today’s rival Foxes Tales when the pair came home second and third to Mostahdaf in the three-runner Group 3 Gordon Richard Stakes at Sandown Park in April, but that comeback will have brought him to concert pitch for today.
In an open contest, Harrovian, Star Safari and, at bigger prices, New Mandate are capable of having a say.
6.10
NEWSBOY’S 1-2-3
1 STOWELL
2 OKITA SOUSHI
3 BANDINELLI
STOWELL looks interesting as he races in handicap company for the first time.
A staying-on third in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot last year – he did best of those coming from the back – the Zoffany colt was then off track for nine months after trailing last in the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket’s July Festival next time.
Stowell, trained in tandem by John and Thady Gosden, made a pleasing return to the fray with a third in the Group 3 John Porter Stakes at Newbury in April, before a fourth to Al Aasy in Ascot’s Listed Buckhounds Stakes three weeks on.
Racing over a mile and a half on both occasions, Frankie Dettori’s mount gave the impression a more stringent test of stamina would trigger a step forward.
If that theory holds water, a British Horseracing Authority mark of 104 can prove within touching distance here.
Chester Cup hero Cleveland is the obvious starting point but steps back in trip, so Okita Soushi and Bandinelli may offer more in the way of value.
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