Royal Ascot Wednesday tips: King can take command at 9-1

Grande Dame lacks a recent run but fitness is unlikely to be an issue and it’s worth recalling she was an impressive winner first time out at Ascot last season.

Unraced as a two-year-old, the daughter of Lope De Vega had established herself as a smart filly by the end of the campaign with the promise of more to come.

She saved her best for last, finishing a good third behind Fonteyn and Laurel in the Group One Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket despite not looking entirely at home on the track.

Grand Dame looks chunky at 7-1 given that she had Prosperous Voyage a length and a half back in fourth at Newmarket. They meet on the same terms here, yet that rival is no bigger than 11-4.

Jumbly is the favourite but is priced up more on potential than what she’s achieved.

This promises to be a fabulous Prince of Wales’s Stakes with My Prospero looking the value at 7-2.

The William Haggas-trained four-year-old has had less racing than his three principal rivals – Luxembourg, Bay Bridge and Adayar – and remains unexposed over a mile and a quarter.

His two defeats in five starts last season both came at Ascot, but he enhanced his reputation each time. He stayed on well when a close third to Coroebus in the St James’s Palace Stakes at this meeting 12 months ago and returned in the autumn to fill the same position in the Champion Stakes.

Bay Bridge and Adayar finished just ahead of him that day, but My Prospero left the impression he had more left in his locker and can improve past that pair, having been an encouraging staying-on fourth over a mile in the Lockinge on his return at Newbury last month.

The bigger the field, the bigger the certainty! Everything looks in place for Astro King to make it third time lucky in the Royal Hunt Cup after his placed efforts in the past two renewals.

The “winner” on his part of the track when second in the 2021 renewal, he was a good fourth last year from a mark 3lb higher than he runs off on this occasion.

The six-year-old changed hands relatively cheaply (36,000gns) at the end of last year but Daniel and Claire Kubler have a good record with cast-offs and must have been hugely encouraged by his stable debut, when a never-nearer fourth of 16 at York last month.

Astro King tanked through that race, but he got caught out of his ground and, in the circumstances, did well to be beaten only a length without having a hard race. He will need the rub of the green with 29 rivals to negotiate but everything is in place for another big run.

Pick 5: 1 ASTRO KING. 2 GHALY. 3 DUNUM. 4 BLESS HIM. 5 BLUE FOR YOU

There are plenty of improvers in this year’s Queen’s Vase but I’ll be surprised if Chesspiece is not on the premises.

Not many three-year-olds are in their element over 14 furlongs at this time of the year but he looks a typically stamina-laden son of Nathaniel.

Winner of a backend maiden over ten furlongs at Newcastle last season, at the main of expense of Hadrianus, who reopposes, he shaped well behind the smart Military Order on his Newbury return before landing a York handicap when upped to 12 furlongs last time.

It briefly looked like he had been given too much to do in the latter contest but he stayed on stoutly to eventually win with something to spare. This longer journey seems sure to suit him even better.

Other selections:

2.30 Born To Rock (now a non-runner)

3.05 Adelaise

6.10 Maximum Impact