Prince of Wales's Stakes could be the race of the week - that's no fake news

Donald Trump may have insultingly misspelled his name last week but Ascot pays regal tribute to the heir to the throne on Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales's – not Whales, as the US president bizarrely tweeted – Stakes is a race fit for a king, arguably the best of the meeting.

That remains the case even after the abdication of Masar, whose defection to the Hardwicke Stakes was understandable as this would be a mightily tough test for a horse coming back from injury, even a Derby winner.

The top five in the betting have won eight Group 1 races between them and they are a perfect eight from eight in their combined appearances so far this year.

Royal Ascot card and betting

And Far Eastern interest is assured thanks to the presence of Japanese mare Deirdre, whose participation caused the race to be brought forward to 3.40pm so it is run before midnight in her home country.

No Japanese horse has yet triumphed at this meeting but there have been enough American winners to make a cricket team, mainly thanks to Wesley Ward who bids to add to his ten victories when he runs a pair of speed merchants in each of the juvenile events that book-end this card.

No fewer than 51 two-year-olds line up in those races and 30 milers will hurtle down the straight course for the Royal Hunt Cup.

The Jackpot has not been won on this day of the meeting since 2006 and Paul Kealy, Tom Segal and Nostradamus working in unison would do well to end that drought this year.

Luck set to change for one star

Somebody's luck is likely to change in a vintage Prince of Wales's Stakes (3.40), whose market leaders suffered agonising near-misses in the world's top middle-distance races last year.

It could be Magical, who thumped the rest by nine lengths and more in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs only to bump into a peak-form Enable.

Sea Of Class would almost certainly have beaten that wonder mare in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with a better draw at Longchamp – she did amazingly well to go down by just a short neck.

And Crystal Ocean looked all over the winner of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes here when dashed clear over a furlong out, only to be nailed late on by Poet's Word.

Yet this is no three-horse race. Waldgeist, a bit player in the Arc and Breeders' Cup Turf, starred in a Prix Ganay romp at Longchamp and is clearly an improved horse and so too is last month's Prix d'Ispahan winner Zabeel Prince.

Perhaps the really lucky ones are us, who get to watch this clash of the titans.

Keeping the Cup in the family

For many people this week is all about breeding, with some fabulous pedigrees to marvel at – either on the racecard or in the Royal Enclosure.

And looking out for family connections could pay off in the Royal Hunt Cup (5.00) once again.

Lord Huntingdon, Amanda Perrett and Ed Dunlop have all emulated their fathers by training the winner of this traditional cavalry since 1992 and James Tate is well fancied to do likewise.

Prince Of Johanne was a 16-1 shot when scoring for Tom Tate in 2012 but lightly-raced Ripon winner New Graduate is hot favourite to take the trophy back to his son's Newmarket yard seven years on.

Not that heading the betting is necessarily a pointer as only three market leaders have rewarded their backers in this ultra-competitive mile contest since 1976.

James Tate is hoping to emulate his fatherCredit: Edward Whitaker

Ward aiming for wonder factor again

Ascot is guaranteed some Florida sunshine in human form this week, even if that coming from above is slightly lacking.

The ebullient Wesley Ward has lit up the meeting in the last decade and unveils the first two runners from what he reckons is his strongest team in the Queen Mary (2.30) on Wednesday afternoon.

Three of his previous ten Royal Ascot winners have come in this event and Anna's Fast and Kimari looked typical Ward speedballs on their debuts at Keeneland in April, blitzing their rivals to scorch home comfortably.

Lady Aurelia gave Wesley Ward his third Queen Mary Stakes victory in 2016Credit: Getty Images

Then again, stablemates Chelsea Cloisters and Happy Like A Fool had looked just as good there only to come up short on this day in the last two years and this could just be a chance for Saeed Bin Suroor to break new ground.

The 36-time Royal Ascot winner has never taken this race. Indeed, the man with five 2m4f Gold Cups to his name has only ever landed one 5f race at this meeting – the 1997 Windsor Castle with Asfurah.

Yet Final Song showed Ward-esque speed when bounding up by five lengths here last month and looks Godolphin's first string for a race in which they run four horses from four different stables.

Stars bloom in the Vase

Whoever wins the Queen's Vase (3.05) on Wednesday afternoon, their name is well worth remembering as this staying test has been a treasure trove of future stars of late.

In the last seven years Leading Light and Kew Gardens have gone on from victory to take the St Leger for Aidan O'Brien at Doncaster, while Estimate and Stradivarius have returned to land the Gold Cup here 12 months on.

And 2014 scorer Hartnell has proven himself one of the top performers in Australia, earning nearly £4 million in prize-money.

None of which makes finding Wednesday's winner any easier, but with Ballydoyle's quartet all Irish Derby entries and seven-time Vase winner Mark Johnston doubly represented the chances are this field is well up to scratch.

Frankie trying to complete a full house

Frankie Dettori does not have many gaps on his Royal Ascot CV and he could close a couple of them on Wednesday afternoon.

Only four of the week's 30 races have eluded the man who got off the mark here in 1990 and has been top jockey at the meeting five times.

The Duke of Cambridge Stakes (4.20) is one that Dettori has yet to capture and he has clearly decided that if you can't beat them, join them – he teams up with Sir Michael Stoute, who has won the Group 2 event, inaugurated in 2004, a record four times.

Rawdaa is a typically patiently-trained Stoute filly, who is still improving fast at the age of our, and looked a Pattern race winner in waiting when a close second on her debut at this level at York last month.

The Windsor Castle Stakes (5.35) is the only Royal Ascot two-year-old race that Dettori has not won and it has also never fallen to Mark Johnston, for whom he rides Carlisle debut scorer Iffraaz.

But those of a mathematical bent will have seen that Wesley Ward won this in 2009 (with Strike The Tiger, his first Ascot winner) and 2014 (Hootenanny) so he's due another strike five years on, with either Foolish Humor or Karak.

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