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First take: three horses to note on Wednesday based on Tuesday's lessons
Betting editor Keith Melrose on what punters can draw from the opening day
Tango
Queen Mary Stakes, 2.30
Not only did Arizona secure a ninth Coventry Stakes win for Aidan O'Brien on Tuesday, but Fort Myers was placed and Royal Lytham ran a sound race in seventh. O'Brien's two-year-olds improve more than most in their early runs and Tango could be overpriced to do the same in a notably open Queen Mary.
Like Arizona, she comes to Royal Ascot after two runs. She finished a head second on debut and then ran out a comfortable all-the-way winner down slightly in trip next time, admittedly at cramped odds.
She is drawn in stall two, which would be a negative only in as far as it offers her less cover. Even so, having shown she can make her own running last time there is no need to get too bogged down with the draw and she should give a good account.
Magical
Prince of Wales's Stakes, 3.40
That the ground turned soft by the end of racing on Tuesday, with more forecast to fall overnight, should be of little concern to fans of Magical.
There is a suggestion that additional emphasis on stamina in the Prince of Wales's Stakes will suit her rivals more, but she has the explicit soft-ground course form after winning on Champions Day, while a greater test will only ask more questions of Sea Of Class on her return to action. Magical remains the likeliest winner of the Prince of Wales's.
Raising Sand
Royal Hunt Cup, 5.00
The promise of soft ground on Wednesday changes the picture on the straight course, even if to what extent we may not know at all until the Queen Mary has been run.
The mere fact of soft in the going gives a boost to Raising Sand in the Hunt Cup. He has performed with great credit in big-field straight course handicaps here on his last three starts, all of them on softer than good. He is drawn very high, in stall 32, which is somewhat out on a limb but closer to the pace than those, like favourite New Graduate, on the other wing.
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