Ribchester standout on Tuesday

NAP of day one at Royal Ascot

The wait is over – Royal Ascot is here and Coral’s horse racing punters have a thrilling week of top quality action ahead. Tuesday opens the show with a bang, day one getting started with the Queen Anne Stakes.

Click here to bet on Tuesday’s six races, including the winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes. Still undecided? Read on as we detail our NAP, while accumulator backers can follow our race-by-race selections, designed to keep you involved throughout.

Traders have Ribchester as strong favourite

The group one Queen Anne Stakes serves as an exciting opener, and we aim to hit the ground running, with our strongest bet going at the first time of asking. Of a star-studded 16-runner field, our odds compilers have Ribchester as strong favourite, and we find ourselves in complete agreement.

The ultra-consistent four-year-old colt won the group one Jacques Le Marois in Deauville last summer, and followed that with a couple of eye-catching places at Ascot in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and a bronze medal at Meydan in the Dubai Turf.

Buick return a positive

In terms of form, the selection sets the bar for his rivals to aim at. He arrives at course on the back of a morale-boosting win, claiming the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May. Going off as favourite that day, he had little trouble living up to the pre-race hype, grinding the field down to win by 3 ½ lengths ahead of runner-up Lightning Spear.

William Buick was in the saddle, and returns to do the steering again on Tuesday, which rates as a real positive for backers. The pair seem to have a good understanding, meaning they can get right to work on the day. Ribchester just seems to keep improving, and it’s impossible not to like him.