Key events
Royal Procession (2pm)
1st Carriage
The King
The Queen
The Earl of Halifax
The Countess of Halifax
2nd Carriage
The Duke of Edinburgh
The Duchess of Edinburgh
The Rt. Hon. the Lord Soames of Fletching
The Lady Sarah Keswick
3rd Carriage
Mr. Mike Tindall
Mrs. Mike Tindall
Mr. William Haggas
Mrs. William Haggas
4th Carriage
Sir Michael Stoute
The Lady Charles Spencer-Churchill
The Lord Lloyd Webber
The Lady Lloyd Webber
Queen’s Hat Stakes (2pm) preview
“After yesterday’s favourite (white/cream) came in bookies are in disagreement about which colour hat Queen Camilla will wear on Day two of Royal Ascot”, reports BestofBets.com. “The best money is currently coming in for a blue/navy number, which was always one of Queen Elizabeth’s ‘go-to’ colours.”
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6/4 Blue
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3/1 Pink
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4/1 Green
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8/1 Yellow
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12/1 White
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12/1 Orange
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16/1 Red
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16/1 Purple
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25/1 Black
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Boylesports betting
The non-runners have been updated so don’t pop these onto your betting slips for this afternoon’s contests.
2:30pm BORN TO ROCK Bad Scope
2:30pm TIGER BELLE Bad Scope
3:05pm AL AGAILA Bruised Foot
5:00pm MIGRATION Unsuitable ground
6:10pm FANDOM Unsuitable ground
The famous Osborne Gallery in London, which has regularly hosted excellent racing-themed exhibitions over the years, is the place to head this summer if you want to see some more wonderfully curated work. Their latest collection is entitled ‘Impressions of the Turf’ and is on until July 15th. The artists featured are Lara Robinson, Jessica Hills, Clementine St John Webster and Michelle McCullagh.
Racegoers are arriving at the track for the second day of the meeting.
Frankie Dettori had a shocker yesterday and will be desperate for a winner this week, at his final Royal Ascot in the saddle. He has decent chances including an obvious one in Gregory, who lines up in the Queen’s Vase at 5.35pm.
Highfield Princess, who ran an excellent race in defeat in the King’s Stand yesterday, will be lining up again on Saturday in the QEII Jubilee Stakes.
Trainer @johnquinnracing has confirmed to this morning’s podcast that Highfield Princess will stay @ascot this week with the intention to run in the QEII Jubilee on Saturday
— Nick Luck (@nickluck) June 21, 2023
Going latest
Chris Stickels, who got some stick yesterday (see tweet from pro-punter Eddie Fremantle below), has weighed in with the latest information. The going for day two is: Good on the straight course and Good, Good to Soft in places on the round course.
GoingStick readings at 8am
(the higher the stick reading the faster the ground):
Stands side: 7.7
Centre: 7.5
Far side: 7.5
Round: 6.6
No going update from Ascot until noon. Not helpful.
— Eddie Fremantle (@eddietheshoe) June 20, 2023
Preamble
Greg Wood
Good morning and welcome to Ascot racecourse, where day two of the 2023 royal meeting will get under way at 2.30pm with Frankie Dettori still looking for his first winner of the week and hoping that things don’t go from bad to worse.
Tuesday was set up to be Dettori’s day, with several fancied rides and an obvious opportunity to get the meeting off to a flyer. He ended up with three second-place finishes, a late non-runner and, most embarrassingly, a nine-day ban for causing significant interference on Saga – the King’s only runner on the day – which rules him out of the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown next month.
With the obvious exception of Saga, Dettori did not really do a great deal wrong on Tuesday, but his mounts were not quite good enough. When you are the most high-profile jockey of the last 30 years, however, and you announced back at Christmas that this season would be your last, a bad first day at the royal meeting can take on a life of its own.
Dettori has four rides on today’s card, three of which are likely to set off at single-figure odds. Tamarama is one of the favourites for the Kensington Palace Fillies’ Handicap at 3.05pm, Prosperous Voyage is around 11-4 for the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes and Gregory is a very warm order for the Queen’s Vase.
His other ride, meanwhile, is Reach For The Moon in the Royal Hunt Cup, another runner in the King’s colours and a bitter disappointment when odds-on for the Hampton Court Stakes here last year.
But he does not have a mount in the feature event, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, while Ryan Moore, who is one win behind him in the all-time list at the royal meeting after a treble on Tuesday, has a full book of seven rides, including Luxembourg, the favourite, in the big one.
The all-important ground, meanwhile, is currently riding good on the straight course and good, good-to-soft in place on the round. It was a dry night and the forecast is for a possible shower or two during the afternoon, but nothing to be too concerned about.
Some thoughts on the seven races on today’s card are here, and the action is under way at 2.30pm with the Queen Mary Stakes – unless you include the royal procession at 2pm, of course. The Duke of Wellington, no less, popped up in the first carriage yesterday. Is there still a Lord Nelson somewhere who can be tracked down for day two?
