Tuesday tips: How To Bet £20 on day one of Royal Ascot 2022

It’s day one of Royal Ascot and the usual dilemma presents itself: do we back Willie Mullins to scoop the Ascot Stakes, or not?

The serial champion jumps trainer has been represented in seven of the past ten renewals of the 2m4f handicap (Irish runners were barred in 2020) and has chalked up four wins plus two seconds. His one blip was in 2016, when the least said about Ryan Moore’s ride on Pique Sous, who finished a never-near seventh, the better.

Mullins was most unfortunate not to take the spoils last year when MC Muldoon was beaten a short head and it might have slipped your mind that in 2018 he had four of the first five home.

If the Closutton maestro ever appears on Mastermind, then his specialised subject (among many) might be “what’s required to win the longest Flat races in Britain” because he’s also landed three renewals of the Queen Alexandra Stakes three plus three successive runnings of the Cesarewitch.

He is clearly an expert when identifying which of his hurdlers and chasers are best qualified for first handicap of the Royal jamboree. And a quick flick back through history suggests it is a tip in itself that he is relying solely on Bring On The Night.

Mullins has gone “solo” in the race on three occasions in the past decade, with dazzling results. Simenon bolted up by six lengths in 2012, as did Thomas Hobson in 2017, while Buildmeupbuttercup beat all bar The Grand Visor from an unfavourably high draw two years later.

Bring On The Night has never run on the Flat for the yard but did win two of his three races on the level for Andre Fabre a couple of years ago and the first of those, when surging clear of Salesman in a 1m4f maiden on heavy ground at Compiegne, hinted at his depths of stamina. It also suggests his opening mark of 93 could be lenient given that the runner-up won off a mark of 94 in France this spring and is capable of mixing it with decent company.

“He is well able to gallop but needs to brush up his jumping,” Mullins told Racing TV Viewers after Bringonthenight had won a maiden hurdle in impressive style at Naas on his stable debut in late February, before adding even then that he viewed him as a dual purpose performer.

Errors hindered him when fourth in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and again on his latest start at the Punchestown Festival. However, there are no obstacles in his way at Ascot and don’t get hung on his reverse at Punchestown as all of Mullins’ previous Ascot Stakes winners – and runners-up – were beaten at the meeting en route to Ascot.

Fast ground is an unknown for Bring On The Night but his half-sister, the 105-rated Bolleville, is at home on a sound surface, while his sire, Gleneagles, the 2015 St James’s Palace Stakes winner, relished quick condition.

His low draw is a positive and while his pedigree doesn’t scream “thorough stayer” it is best to trust Mullins on this front. In any case, they often amble through the first half and it’s perhaps not quite the staying test one would imagine.

He’s up against rivals placed in the Chester Cup, plus a superior hurdler in The Pied Piper, but all the stats and clues from yesteryear point to the 5-1 chance being the one they all have to beat.

The three Group One races are not lacking in quality but it’s only the King’s Stand which appeals for betting purposes. The Queen Anne Stakes should be a procession for the brilliant Baaeed, while I’ll be surprised if Coroebus fails to follow up his 2000 Guineas triumph in the St James’s Palace Stakes. The King’s Stand is more competitive but Golden Pal will take plenty of stopping if able to reproduce the form he showed when landing the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Wesley Ward’s rapid four-year-old clearly did not give his true running in the Nunthorpe last summer, but the ground has come right for him and I like his double-figure draw. Irad Ortiz will ride all the Ward raiders this year and is 5/5 on him.

Nature Strip, from Australia, has usurped Golden Pal as favourite in recent days but his connections have left it late to journey to these shores and the extra furlong of Saturday’s Platinum Jubilee Stakes might have been a better fit for him given the prevailing conditions.

The Coventry Stakes looks a cracker with seven of the 17 runners being unbeaten, and all bar Lakota Blue having won at least once.

The three market leaders, Blackbeard, Persian Force and Age Of Kings, all have solid credentials and have double-digit draws, so it would be no surprise to see things unfold middle to stands’ side.

Persian Force has been flawless in winning at Doncaster and Newbury, with Richard Hannon suggesting he’s the best two-year-old seen at East Everleigh for a long time and mentioning him in the same breath as Canford Cliffs. That is some compliment, given the Hannon yard is never bereft of juvenile talent and that Canford Cliffs was himself a six-length winner of the Coventry in 2009.

The clock backed up the visual impression that Persian Force made when winning the Brocklesby on his debut – the next three home have all won since – and he looked equally at home over 6f at Newbury last time, when brushing aside Holguin. The runner-up had previously beaten two subsequent winners on his debut.

Mehmas, the sire of Persian Force, won that same Newbury race for the Hannon camp in 2016 before beating all bar Caravaggio in the 2016 Coventry. The general 3-1 will look skinny to some given the depth of the race, but will do for me.

At bigger prices, Tasman Bay appeals in the Wolferton Stakes, while Okita Soushi is not one to underestimate in the closing Copper Horse Stakes. Both are available at double-figure digits

Tasman Bay has been off ten months but, encouragingly, he won readily on his comeback at Newcastle last season, suggesting he is a clean-winded individual.

He failed to add to his tally but ran some fine races in defeat behind top-quality performers such as Hurricane Lane, Alenquer, Baaeed and Dubai Honour. This Listed contest does not include Group One acts such as them, while there is also the prospect of Sir Mark Todd’s four-year-old, usually a front-runner, getting a relatively uncontested lead from stall six.

A good looker and well-bred, there may still be more to come, especially if a gelding operation since last year has also helped. Bet365 offer 14-1 and are going five places for each-way players.

Finally, the lightly raced Okita Soushi is interesting after chasing home Raise You on his return in a Listed contest at The Curragh last month.

The well-backed winner won with plenty in hand and looks destined for better things this year, but Okita Soushi himself shaped most pleasingly and did not have to be hard ridden to fend off two solid staying yardsticks in Wordsworth and Master Of Reality for second place.

An opening handicap mark of 104 demands a deep breath but Okita Soushi is open to plenty of improvement and the handicapper could have been more severe, given that the trio who followed him home at The Curragh went into the race with official ratings of 109, 107 and 106.

He also had the Duke Of Edinburgh on Friday, over the same trip, as an option, but this extra two furlongs should be well within the Galileo colt’s range. His entries for later this year include the Irish St Leger.

3.05 Persian Force £3 win at a general 3-1

3.40 Golden Pal £2 win at 3-1 with William Hill and SBK

5.00 Bring On The Night £4 win at 9-2 with bet365 and William Hill

5.35 Tasman Bay £1 win and £2 each-way at 14-1 with bet365 (who are offering five places)

6.10 Okita Soushi £1 win and £2.50 each-way at a general 10-1 (all firms going five places)

General prices in brackets

3.05 Persian Force (3-1)

3.40 Golden Pal (3-1)

5.00 Bring On The Night (4-1)

5.35 Tasman Bay (14-1)

6.10 Okita Soushi (10-1)