Big days at Ascot have the capacity to turn green. This could well be one of them.

In the St James’s Palace Stakes The Gurkha and Awtaad vie for favouritism on the back of Guineas wins at Deauville and the Curragh where both were impressive winners.

The Gurkha annihilated the opposition in France where he had them all in trouble from a long way out. He came home 5 1/2 L clear of First Selection with Zarak and Dicton in behind. They latter pair franked the form running second and third in the French Derby. Prior to that he’d won a maiden at Navan by 9L on heavy ground. No fears then on the this ground.

Awtaad won his maiden on the last day of the season at Leopardstown last year and his reintroduction this year saw him take the Madrid Handicap at the Curragh followed by the Tetrarch Stakes. This convinced his trainer Kevin Prendergast he had a colt capable of Guineas standard and so the Curragh was pencilled in to take on Galileo Gold who had triumphed so well at Newmarket. Awtaad had a smooth passage and ran out a convincing winner over the Newmarket conqueror who did have to suffer when caught in a pocket. In fairness to his team Hugo Palmer and Frankie Dettori there weren’t looking for excuses.

In the first, often the best race of the week, The Queen Anne, Tepin comes from America. She’s a superstar filly, the current Breeders Mile Champion and will look to add to a tally that includes five G1’s wins. The difficulty for her is not the ground, she can handle that, it’s the straight mile. As we saw last year with Able Friend Ascot’s straight mile is a huge challenge to horses who are used to coming around tight turns.

Evereyda was only beaten the once last year when Amazing Maria got the better of her in the Prix Rothschild and she is likely to off favourite. She won the French Guineas and Coronation Cup here last year and bounced back from the Amazing Maria defeat to take the Prix du Moulin on her last run in 2015.. She was well beaten on her comeback in May. Granted she have needed the run but she may not have trained on to the same extent as last year.

With doubts about the top two then the Lockinge must come into calculations.

Belarado leads home Euro Charline and Endless Drama in the Lockinge at Newbury. Picture courtesy of Alan Crowhurst and Getty Images.

At Newbury Belarado beat our selection on the day, Euro Charline, with Endless Drama back in third. The eye catcher was Endless Drama who’s only ever won the once, a maiden first time out at Naas in October 2014. Three runs as a three-year old saw him second each time however on closer inspection it’s fair to say they were very good runs.

He was beaten by a very good horse in the Leopardstown Guineas Trial, Zawraq trained by Dermot Weld. Zawraq has since been sidelined however he holds an entry in this years Irish Champion Stakes later in the year. Endless Drama was then beaten by Gleneagles in the Irish Guineas and then like Zawraq, was sidelined. Off the track for a year Ger Lyons nursed him back for the Lockinge without the benefit of a prior racecourse visit. That was a big run, he can improve again.

It could be a fairytale day for Ger Lyons Glenburnie stable. Possibly the biggest hour of their existence.

After the Queen Anne comes the Coventry Stakes where careers of top milers are launched. The Sean Jones owned Psychedelic Funk takes on Coolmore’s Caravaggio. Both have had two runs, the latter winning over 5F, the former over 6F. There’s little doubt the step up in distance will not be a problem for Caravaggio nor will the ground as his last win was on soft at the Curragh.

Psychedelic Funk is a son of Choisir who beat a well backed newcomer from the Jim Bolger stable first time out at Naas. He returned to the same venue when stepped up in class and won by a cosy 6L. That was on a on a yielding to soft surface indicating he’ll have no issue with this ground either. It was the manner of the victory which was so impressive, the ease in which he did it, Colin Keane had a job just to pull him up. There’s every chance a career at the very top level will be launched.

Great for the game, fantastic for a small outfit like Glenburnie.

Recommendation:

Queen Anne Stakes: Endless Drama 7/1 win

Coventry Stakes: Psychedelic Funk 6/1 win 

The St James’s Palace Stakes: The Gurkha  6/4 win