Royal Ascot Tips: Tuesday Q&A including Queen Anne Stakes

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Thu June 12, 2025 · 2d ago

Matt Brocklebank, Tony McFadden and David Ord answer some of the big questions ahead of day one of Royal Ascot.

We start with a bang and the Lockinge re-match in the Queen Anne – who comes out on top?

David Ord: It’s not easy is it? The market suggests Rosallion is going to come forward sufficiently to win it and he did go through the Newbury race powerfully before the lack of a run told.

I think he’ll reverse form with Lead Artist and Dancing Gemini who look sure to run their race again but at the prices I prefer Notable Speech. He too looked understandably ring-rusty in Berkshire and was only a short-head behind the Ascot favourite.

He beat him in the Guineas last spring, is a tip-top miler yet twice the price of Rosallion. I don’t understand that discrepancy.

Matt Brocklebank: As is sometimes the case, I thought the Lockinge had a slightly funny look to it and I wouldn’t be betting that the first four from Newbury finish in the same order here.

Rosallion is a horse I’ve always liked, and I can see him winning this, but the market feels the same and at the moment I’m looking towards Sardinian Warrior or Lake Forest.

The latter is completely untried at a mile but it could suit him realty well and I liked the comeback run in when left with little chance from his early position in a slowly-run race. A stronger pace here and a dry forecast would also seem to be in Lake Forest’s favour too.

Tony McFadden: Only 2lb separates Rosallion, Notable Speech, Lead Artist and Dancing Gemini on Timeform ratings so the Queen Anne looks like an extremely tight-knit affair.

Rosallion is marginally the highest rated based on his St James's Palace Stakes win last year, and he shaped well when third on his reappearance in the Lockinge Stakes, looking like the run would bring him on. However, I'm not sure he should be such a clear-cut favourite, particularly as Ascot's stiff straight mile might not be ideal for one who usually takes a strong hold and whose main asset is his speed.

Dancing Gemini may have come up just short in the Lockinge, but he ran his best race yet, continuing his theme of gradual improvement this year, and he looks like a very straightforward sort with solid claims.

Dancing Gemini comes nicely clear at Sandown

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The King Charles III looks wide-open judged by the betting. Who’s on your shortlist?

DO: Night Raider. Look, last year’s principals, Asfoora, Regional and Believing all look set to run well again and we know there’s not much between any of the top sprinters on any given day. But Night Raider is a new face in the division and the way he blazed a trail for much of the 1895 Duke of York Stakes before being collared late, screamed he’s worth a go at five furlongs.

Karl Burke's charge looks to have abundant natural speed and while this is his first run at the minimum trip, it could be the making of him. If he wins this, the King George at Goodwood and Nunthorpe at York would look at his mercy.

Matt Brocklebank: Like Dave, I'm drawn to Night Raider who is completely unexposed at the trip and Karl Burke maintains we’re looking at a top-class performer in the making.

He’s got to be in the melting pot when it comes to bets at this stage, while at a huge price Aesterius obviously needs to put a poor York comeback run behind him (stopped quickly) but his form with Big Mojo from last year reads very well and Wathnan will obviously hope he’s back on song for what is clearly the biggest week of the year for that operation.

Karl Burke: Says Night Raider is working well ahead of Royal Ascot

Tony McFadden: Night Raider has never run over five furlongs, but he showed so much speed when third in the Duke of York Stakes over six furlongs last month that he looks well worth his place in the King Charles III Stakes. He still needs to prove that he's as good on turf as on the all-weather but encouragement can be taken from his run at York where he tanked along and looked the likely winner ing the two-furlong pole.

He was unable to sustain that effort but his blazing speed should be even more of an asset back in trip.

Will Field Of Gold take revenge on Ruling Court in the St James’s Palace?

DO: Probably but I wouldn’t be in a rush to take 4/5 about him doing so. He got caught too far back at Newmarket and came home well, appearing to many to be the best horse in the race, a runaway win in the Irish 2,000 doing little to change their view.

He looks every inch a top miler but that’s exactly what Ruling Court might be too given the Derby experiment was shelved at the last minute. There’s a pound between the two on Timeform ratings and racing around a bend introduces a different challenge and potential traffic problems.

I think it’s between the two but I’m happy to watch and find out without being financially involved.

Ruling Court (white cap) won the 2000 Guineas under William Buick

Matt Brocklebank: I suspect he probably will but it’d be madness to rule out Henri Matisse and, with all the focus surrounding the Guineas heroes from England and Ireland, I just wonder what price we could get on the day about the Longchamp winner.

Camille Pissarro (and Detain) has already franked that form in the French Derby and Henri Matisse loved the quick ground out in America when landing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on firm at Del Mar. He’s two from two this year and you simply cannot underestimate just how good Ryan Moore can be on the Round Course at Ascot.

Tony McFadden: Yes. He probably would have won the 2000 Guineas had he been asked for his effort sooner - though I wouldn't be as dogmatic about that as some - and I thought he then took a step forward when an emphatic winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Cosmic Year had looked like an exciting prospect, but he could never lay a glove on Field Of Gold who settled the race in a matter of strides after looming up. The style of that success suggests Field of Gold is still improving and could have an even bigger effort in his locker should it be required.

Give us one other horse on your Tuesday radar?

DO: Being on the Wathnan shopping-list for Royal Ascot doesn’t make you a member of a particularly exclusive club but French Master could provide them with an immediate return on his investment in the closing Golden Gates Handicap.

A well-bred son of Frankel from a good Normandie Stud family, he’s been a slow-burner but is improving with every run and landed a 0-105 at Goodwood on his last start. He did so despite meeting with trouble in running and showing a tendency to run in snatches.

His style of racing means he’s only gone up four pounds, he’s completely unexposed as a stayer and the strong gallop he’ll get to chase here will eek out his untapped stamina even further.

Matt Brocklebank: Having followed him from Cork, to Cheltenham, to last month’s Curragh win on the Flat, I’ve got to give a positive mention to Gavin Cromwell’s Robbies Rock who looks like being on the verge of making the cut for the Ascot Stakes.

He’ll need to improve again to defy the British handicapper but seems on an upward curve after scoring in the first-time cheekpieces last time.

Tony McFadden: Caviar Heights ended last season out of form, but he had produced a smart performance when bolting up in the listed Newmarket Stakes in a good time (replay below), and he would be an interesting runner in the Wolferton Stakes.

He has ed William Haggas from Karl Burke after he was bought for 520,000 guineas and, described by Timeform as a strong, lengthy gelding, he has the physique of one who could get back on the up for his new connections.