3.40 Prince of Wales’s Stakes: The rain came heavily on Day One of Royal Ascot but it didn’t affect the excitement one bit and rain, hail or shine we should have some good racing with the Group 1 contest on Day Two the Prince of Wales’s Stakes over the extended 1m2f, with eight runners declared, led by Magical for Aidan O’Brien and William Haggas’s Sea Of Class Circus Maximus earned the master of Ballydoyle a Group 1 on the opening day and he will look for more success in this.
MAGICAL (Trainer: Aidan O’Brien, Jockey: Ryan Moore) 7-4: Close to Enable in Breeders’ Cup Turf and three wins since, the latest in a Group 1.
SEA OF CLASS (William Haggas, James Doyle) 3-1: Won the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks before just being beaten in the Arca by Enable.
CRYSTAL OCEAN (Michael Stoute, Frankie Dettori) 4-1: Never out of the first three and won the Hardwicke Stakes here last year. Two wins in Group 3 races to war up for this.
WALDGEIST (Andre Fabre, Pierre-Charles Boudot) 4-1: Like Sea Of Class, didn’t get a clear run in Arc, but that looked a personal best and other form not quite as good.
ZABEEL PRINCE (Roger Varian, Andrea Atzeni) 11-1: Goes an extra furlong today and that is a question mark but has some good form in the book.
DEIRDRE (Mitsuru Hashida, Yutaka Take) 40-1: Regular Group 1 contender but not done enough to match those at the head of the market.
HUNTING HORN (Aidan O’Brien, Donnacha O’Brien) 50-1: Been in with some good yardsticks and never taken the big scalps.
DESERT ENCOUNTER (David Simcock, Jim Crowley) 66-1: Another who needs to do a best ever just to get in the frame.
