Royal Ascot opened the carnival with a bang! The Silver Ring was sold out while the Grand Stand looked to be packed to capacity for the races today while the sour note was certainly the 50% increase in Heath enclosure prices. 
There was trouble even before the first race with the $1.80 out to $2.45 favourite at the jump pulling very hard all the way to the line. He jumped poorly and didn’t get into stride while pulling a little in run also, with a run coming to the end with more than 2 furlongs left and finishing out the back. It was an epic Queen Anne Stakes for the ages with the race being anyone’s at the 1 furlong pole. Elusive Kate got out and put down her claims looking the winner but failing to keep on running late. Gregorian at big odds put in an amazing race to battle on for third while Aljamaaheer was solid running into second.. but it was all the Declaration of War show. O’Brien was stuck in a pocket coming into the final furlongs and pushed his way clear when he saw daylight and Declaration of War responded to the whip to grab the race in the final 100 metres. It was a thrilling race overshadowed by the poor running of Animal Kingdom. Surely a favourite had to get up in the next race? 
The King’s Stand Stakes with 19 runners was a short and sharp 1005m race run at a fairly strong tempo. The Aussie hope ShamExpress ran on well, but fell out of it in the final 2 furlongs with what seemed different tactics being used today. Either way, Shamexpress still did Australia proud. Pearl Secret put in a very solid run to snatch a place, but the story of the race was Shea Shea hitting the front and grabbing a quick 1.5L lead in the final furlong before Sole Power launched a huge run down the inside rail to snatch the win in the final 10 metres to turn around the form from Dubai where Shea Shea had beaten Sole Power home in both recent engagements. There were a few on twitter mentioning that Shea Shea didn’t seem to be whipped the whole race which could have proved to be the difference. 
The St James’s Palace Stakes loomed to be the race of the day and it didn’t disappoint. It was all about Toronado and Dawn Approach when 2nd favourite Magician was gone at the 2 furlong mark. Dawn Approach hit the lead going into the final 2 furlongs and Toronado on the outside rail took it up to Dawn Approach.. hitting the lead for the last 1.5 furlongs until Dawn Approach fought back on the line to claim the win in a very close photo. It was a gutsy win considering Dawn Approach suffered a massive bump at around the 2.25 furlong mark. 
The Coventry Stakes, a Group 2 for 2YOs looked on paper to be one of the hardest races to pick of the day and it certainly throw up an outsider. War Command came into the race with 1 win from 1 start with some interesting breeding, but was un-fancied all day leading up to the race, drifting from around the $9 quote to over $20s. The $3 favourite Stubbs failed to impress with a poor run today.. the backing of Stubbs down to this price was curious with the form lines certainly not strong. Sir John Hawkins was the run of those to place putting in a big run while Parbold at big odds surprised many to sneak in for 2nd after flying late.
The staying race of the day was the Ascot Stakes over 4023m. Tiger Cliff and Justification came in as the well fancied favourites but it was the lightly raced Well Sharp coming off a strong win first up who hit the front in the final furlong by around 2 lengths and held it out to the line beating home Tiger Cliff and Lieutenant Miller.
The Windsor Castle Stakes over 1005m capped off a glorious day with the sun finally coming out for the final race of the day. The race was a horror on form to attempt to pick and this was backed up by the excellent win by $22 outsider Extortionist winning from $21 Supplicant while the hard backed Anticipated snuck home for 3rd.
I will be on track all but one day this week and will continue to bring you the form guides and reviews of the day.
