Royal Ascot Day Two Preview - 19/06/2019

The first race on the second day at Royal Ascot 2019 is the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes and in this five furlong sprint contest for the Fillies we have sided with two selections.

The first selection in this very open contest in the Godolphin owned Divine Spirit who looks to certainly be on the shortlist after landing a good Class 4 at Windsor and when looking at the winning time it was very impressive.

She will have to come on for that, as will many of the runners but Charlie Appleby has a good record with his two year olds and she looks to be a nice recruit for the yard.

Another selection in this race from an each way angle is the Mark Johnston-trained Raffle Prize, she looks a really bright two year old and if handling the trip with Frankie Dettori on board as well could be of some interest.

Another Group 2 follows in the second race of the day and in the Queen's Vase over 1 mile 6 furlongs we have chosen the Archie Watson trained Nate The Great.

This three year old last season was a good performer over shorter distances but has stepped up in trip massively this year and has been fairly effective in some good contests.

His latest performance at Lingfield was one his best finishing third to eventual Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck and that is a great form line heading into this contest.

The feature contest of the Wednesday at Royal Ascot is always the Prince Of Wales's Stakes and this year we have gone for the William Haggas-trained Sea Of Class.

This four year old filly will be having her first start of the season but she is known for going well fresh and if she comes back anything like her three year old self, will take all the beating.

Last season she landed the Irish and Yorkshire Oaks and finished off her season just narrowly being beat in the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe by the super Enable.

Her trainer has said that she is his best chance of the week and has matured during the off season. This daughter of Sea The Stars could have a season to remember and there is no better place to start than this Group 1.

Next up is another of the Group 2 contests on the second day at Royal Ascot and in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes over a mile and we have two selections.

The first is the Ed Walker trained Agrotera who won at this prestigious meeting last year in the big Sandringham Handicap Stakes over course and distance which could give her an edge in this race.

She made a smart seasonal reappearance at Kempton which should set her up nicely for this contest and horses for courses at Ascot is a huge advantage.

Our each-way selection comes in the way of Threading for trainer Mark Johnston, she finished second behind Alpha Centauri at this meeting last year in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes and anything mirroring that effort will see her in the mix.

The penultimate race on day two is one of the trickiest races to call across the whole week with the big Class 2 Royal Hunt Cup that sees around 30 runners head to post.

We have three selections to watch out for in this one and the first is the James Tate trained New Graduate who has not finished out of the top two on all four of his runs to date.

He has gone on to win two of them and his latest on his seasonal debut was very impressive at Ripon at it sees him top the market.

Second we have Raising Sand at a bigger price and this seven year old trained by Jamie Osborne is one of the more experienced runners in the field that has a superb record at Ascot and because of that can not be overlooked.

The final selection and biggest price of the lot is the Andrew Balding-trained Zwayyan who loves running in big fields and although will need to step up for his runs this season has SDS on board which is a huge bonus.

The final contest of the second day at the Berkshire track is the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes over five furlongs and again with such a big field we have two selections.

The first is the Wesley Ward-trained Karak and this two year old filly looks to be a smart customer, winning easily on debut at Belmont Park and if not running green has to be taken seriously from a top trainer in these races.

Secondly from an each-way shout we have Illusionist for Qatar Racing and Archie Watson and although needing to step up he has been a consistent horse with two seconds and one win in his three starts to date and should not be ruled out having been very progressive all season.