Day 2 of the Royal Ascot festival gets underway at 2:30 this afternoon, and it promises to be yet another exciting day at the famous flat racecourse. Aidan O’Brien is nearly at 100 winners at the festival, he only needs three more wins to reach the milestone, and like yesterday, he’s got a great chance of reaching his century.
The Queen Mary Stakes gets things going, and O’Brien’s horse, aptly named Victorious, ridden by Ryan Moore, stands poised as the favourite at 4/1. The only slight issue is whether Victorious can pack enough punch instead of riding a consistent effort, but Moore and O’Brien are a winning combination in this race; they won it with True Love this time last year. The first Group 1 of the day is the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, which gets going from 4:20, sees the Gosden’s Ombudsman the slight favourite at 6/5, but this field is tight, and competitivek, as Ombudsman prepares to defend the crown. Pay attention to Daryz who could shine, and Minnie Hauk of O’Brien, who would spring a surprise if she were to come home first.
There’s plenty of action across the other races today, with five other races on the card, rhe Queen’s Vase at 3:05, Duke of Cambridge Stakes at 3:40, Royal Hunt Cup at 5, which is then followed by the Kensington Palace Stakes at 5:35, before today’s action comes to a conclusion with the Windsor Castle Stakes at 6:10. Once today’s action comes to a close, all eyes will be on the most prestigious race of the meet tomorrow, as Trawlerman seeks to defend the Ascot Gold Cup for the Godsen’s, and what’s interesting to note is that the Gold Cup hasn’t been defended since 2020, when Stradivarius won it for the third year in a row.
Preview with thanks to Luke Watson
