There is a field of 10 for Wednesday’s feature race at Royal Ascot.
Prince of Wales's Stakes - 16:25 Wednesday
The feature race on the second day of Royal Ascot is the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, which is run over 1m2f, and a field of 10 will headline Wednesday’s highlight.
The favourite is Auguste Rodin, who is set to take on Inspiral, with French raiders Big Rock and Horizon Dore among his other list of challengers.
Below you will find my runners guide along with a tip.
Best of luck!
Prince Of Wales’s Stakes Runners Guide
1. Alflaila
- Trainer: Owen Burrows
- Jockey: Jim Crowley
- Form: 211115
- Odds: 10/1
Improved into a quality Group-class performer in 2022, completing a hat-trick of wins in Group 3 and Listed races. Limited to just two starts last year, he returned with a bang in the Group 2 Sky Bet York Stakes.
However, he could only finish fifth in his other outing, behind Auguste Rodin in the Irish Champion Stakes. This is no easy return to action either, but his record when fresh (3-3) does bode well, and he could sneak into the frame.
2. Auguste Rodin
- Trainer: Aidan O’Brien
- Jockey: Ryan Moore
- Form: 101102
- Odds: 7/4
Top-class at his best, and despite having two ways of running, he’s still won five Group 1 races so far in his career. Even though he flopped in last season’s 2000 Guineas and King George, he showed his true colours in the Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes, and Breeders' Cup Turf.
He turned in another poor display when last in the Sheema Classic on his return, but was back on it when second to White Burch at the Curragh last month. He could be hard to beat, although he failed to beat a rival home in his only previous visit here, so that does ring alarm bells.
3. Hans Andersen
- Trainer: Aidan O’Brien
- Jockey: Wayne Lordan
- Form: 180156
- Odds: 100/1
Group 3 winner on his return last year and didn’t need to be at his best to enhance his good record when fresh after a successful reappearance at Dundalk.
His two recent starts haven’t been all that bad, but he has plenty to find with stablemate Auguste Rodin, and it would be a surprise to see him in the mix at this level.
4. Horizon Dore
- Trainer: Patrice Cottier
- Jockey: Mickael Barzalona
- Form: 304252
- Odds: 7/1
This French raider progressed nicely last year, winning four consecutive races prior to finishing an excellent third in the Champion Stakes at this course.
He’s looked as good as ever this year, going close in a pair of Group 1 races at Longchamp, and the return to better ground will hold no fears. He should be thereabouts.
5. Lord North
- Trainer: John & Thady Gosden
- Jockey: William Buick
- Form: 411283
- Odds: 25/1
Triumphed in this race four years ago, and this four-time Group 1 winner showed there’s still life in his older legs at Sandown last month when he finished third to Charyn in the bet365 Mile.
Recent evidence does suggest he’s not as good as he once was, though, and that’s understandable given he’s now eight. He failed to beat a rival when he was last of five in this 12 months ago, and it’s hard to see him improving on that this time either.
6. Royal Rhyme
- Trainer: Karl Burke
- Jockey: Clifford Lee
- Form: 101151
- Odds: 22/1
Has gone from strength to strength and boasts a fine win ratio that reads five wins from just nine starts. He concluded last term with a fine fifth-place finish in the Champion Stakes and returned this campaign with a smooth win in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown.
He will need to raise his game again to figure in this company, though, and a place might be the best he can hope for against inferior rivals. As well as that, he could do with the arrival of rain to be seen at his best, and that seems unlikely with the weather set to be dry all week.
7. Snobbish
- Trainer: Maurizio Guarnieri
- Jockey: Fabien Lefebvre
- Form: 2179
- Odds: 150/1
Will surely find this level too hot to handle, and he appears to be in here as a pacemaker for stablemate Blue Rose Cen. No appeal.
8. Zarakem
- Trainer: Jerome Reynier
- Jockey: Maxime Guyon
- Form: 111618
- Odds: 20/1
Another French raider. He beat Horizon Dore in the Prix d’Harcourt at Longchamp in April on his return, but let his supporters down when he was only eighth of nine in the Prix Ganay last time out.
This isn’t exactly an easy race to bounce back, and he just doesn’t scream a potential winner of this contest. I expect him to find a few too good on ground which is probably quicker than ideal.
9. Blue Rose Cen
- Trainer: Maurizio Guarnieri
- Jockey: Christophe Soumillon
- Form: 114515
- Odds: 12/1
Top-class filly who has won eight of her 13 starts and did very well last year, winning the Pouliches, Diane, and the Prix de l'Opera. She could only finish fifth on her return last month but suffered traffic problems and is sure to be fitter this time.
Her fillies’ allowance could be a massive advantage under these conditions, and there’s every chance she will be competitive if she’s back to anything near her best. The good ground will be in her favour as well.
10. Inspiral
- Trainer: John and Thady Gosden
- Jockey: Kieran Shoemark
- Form: 251114
- Odds: 11/4
High-class mare with six Group 1 wins to her name, including a win at this meeting two years ago when impressive in the Coronation Stakes, and is unexposed over this trip.
Last season she won the Jacques le Marois, Sun Chariot, and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and looked in need of her return in the Lockinge Stakes.
She could only finish fourth, but that will have sorted her fitness out, and both her rating and fillies’ allowance are a clear indication that she will be hard to beat.
Prince Of Wales’s Stakes Tips & Prediction
Despite being beaten on her return at Newbury, the classy INSPIRAL (tipped at 11/4) can register a seventh win at the highest level. Kieran Shoemark hasn’t had the easiest of starts for John and Thady Gosden, but hopefully this filly can give him the boost that is needed ahead of the rest of the week.
Her recent effort in the Lockinge Stakes should have blown away the cobwebs, and it's notable to see her line up in this race instead of the Queen Anne Stakes, the race she went close in last year. Her record on a bend is exceptional, and the ground will be a massive plus, so she gets my vote to take the feature.
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