Rest of Royal Ascot (Saturday)

Things have not gone totally to plan so far this week for Ryan Moore but he can make up a lot of ground today and we expect him to win the first two races, the listed Chesham Stakes for 2yo´s 15.30 CET with Maybe and the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes over 1 1/2 miles at 16.05 with Await the Dawn, both trained by Aidan O´Brien. Await the Dawn is very lightly-raced but has won 4 of his 5 starts and has always been very highly rated by the trainer. He won in good style last time at Chester and we expect him to take this step up in class and distance in his stride. The 3 Godolphin runners are probably the main dangers; Campanologist (Ted Durcan) won two German Group Ones last year, but to be honest, they were not strong races; Calvados Blues (Murtagh) is by Lando and probably needs faster ground, while Passion for Gold (Mikael Barzalona) has won on very soft ground but missed all of 2010. Front-runner Poet (Clive Cox/ Adam Kirby) will love the ground, but this distance may be too fa r for him in this company.

The meeting traditionally ends with the U.K.´s longest flat race, the Queen Alexandra Stakes over almost 2 3/4 miles at 18.35. The logical favourite here is Overturn (Donald McCain/ Eddie Ahern), who has very smart form both on the flat (he won the Chester Cup last time) and over hurdles (7th in the Champion at Cheltenham). However he is a front-runner and this is an awfully long way to stay in the lead. We will oppose him with Irish-trained Elyaadi (Jon Queally/ Fran Berry), a 7yo mare who stays well and goes on the ground.

The handicaps are as usual wide open, especially the 6 furlongs Wokingham Stakes at 17.25; even with several non-runners there will be a field of almost 30. In the assumption that the middle to high numbers will still have an advantage we make Waffle (David Barron/ Fran Berry), drawn 15, and Prime Defender (Barry Hills/ Olivier Peslier), drawn 17, our two against the field, but basically anything is possible here.

LATER: Overturn non-runner in Queen Alexandra