Royal Ascot opens on today with the Queen Anne Stakes, a Group 1 mile contest worth £450,000 to the winner. Notable Speech heads the market at 5/2, but this is far from a one-horse race.
Nine runners go to post for the opening Group 1 on the card, and while Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech has been the dominant force in the ante-post market, the layers have plenty to think about in a race that regularly throws up a surprise.
Notable Speech is a deserving favourite. The five-year-old won the 2000 Guineas in 2024, has since added the Sussex Stakes, the Woodbine Mile, the Breeders’ Cup Mile and a Lockinge Stakes victory at Newbury in May to his record. Five Group or Grade 1 wins is as good as it gets for a miler of his generation. William Buick, who knows him inside out, takes the ride again.
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But there is a reason the market is not treating this as a foregone conclusion. Notable Speech has run twice at Royal Ascot before and come up short on both occasions. There are also genuine questions about how the race will be run, and at least four horses in the field who have every right to make this interesting.
Opera Ballo: The One They Fear Most
The horse at the top of the dark horse list is not exactly hiding. Opera Ballo, trained by Appleby and ridden by Billy Loughnane, is available at 7/2 and arrives at Ascot as one of the most in-form milers in training.
The four-year-old Ghaiyyath colt has won seven of his nine career starts. That record alone would catch the eye, but it is the quality of those wins that makes him so interesting. He spent the winter at Meydan, winning a Group 2 in December and following it up with a Group 1 victory in the Jebel Hatta in January.
He then came back to British racing in April and won the bet365 Mile at Sandown, a Group 2, by three lengths from Field Of Gold.
The tactical angle is also worth considering. With no confirmed front-runner in this field, Loughnane may opt to let Opera Ballo stride on from the front, as he did to such effect at Sandown. That would give him a clear run and allow him to dictate the fractions on ground that currently sits good to firm at Ascot.
There is one caveat worth noting, and it is an honest one. Opera Ballo’s two career defeats have both come on straight tracks. Newmarket, where he was touched off by Zeus Olympios in the Joel Stakes last September, and the straight mile at Ascot represent a different test to the sweeping turns of Meydan or the undulating nature of Sandown.
At 7/2, Opera Ballo is not exactly generous given those questions about the track, but the form is rock solid and there is a reasonable argument he is at least as good as the favourite right now.
More Thunder: The Lockinge Runner-Up
More Thunder, trained by William Haggas and ridden by Tom Marquand, sits at 10/3 in the market.
He finished second to Notable Speech in the Lockinge last month, beaten two lengths, and connections have decided a rematch here is the right move.
Some of the handicappers rate More Thunder’s Lockinge performance as unlucky. He was ridden from well off the pace that day and came through wide. But a suspicion lingers that Notable Speech is simply a better horse.
That said, More Thunder has genuine class. He won the Hungerford at Newbury in 2025 and has been placed in Group 1 races in France.
If the pace is slow, which is possible given the lack of obvious front-runners, and if the race becomes a sprint in the final furlong, his closing burst could be exactly what is needed.
Docklands: Defending Champion with Ascot Claims
At 8/1, Docklands represents a case that is easy to overlook and easy to underestimate.
The six-year-old Harry Eustace-trained gelding won this race twelve months ago at 14/1. He has subsequently gone to Hong Kong and Japan, run in the Champions Mile at Sha Tin and placed against strong fields. He came back to Doncaster in March and won a Listed race cosily on return.
Eustace has been open about the challenge Docklands faces. Asked ahead of this year’s renewal, he noted that the race is “nigh on the race of the week” and conceded his horse could run his absolute best and still finish fourth. That is not the kind of remark a trainer makes without good reason.
But Docklands absolutely loves this track. He has run here several times and knows every yard of the straight mile at Ascot, and Mark Zahra, who won on him last year, takes the ride again. At 8/1, for a proven course-and-distance winner on his favourite track, there is each-way appeal.
Zeus Olympios: Consistent but Short of a Win
Karl Burke’s Zeus Olympios has finished third in both his starts this season, behind Opera Ballo at Sandown and behind Notable Speech at Newbury.
He beat Opera Ballo in the Joel Stakes at Newmarket last September and has never been far away in a Group race. At 10/1 with Clifford Lee in the saddle, he is a horse who runs to his level consistently and does not embarrass himself in the best company.
The issue is that he has not won since that Joel Stakes and there are two horses above him in the market who have since beaten him. He is not the most obvious route to a profit, but he is worth including if you are putting together a place bet.
The Verdict
This is a race where Notable Speech will take plenty of beating, but it is far from a procession.
Opera Ballo is the most interesting horse in the field. Still improving, arrives on the back of a dominant win. The straight mile is an unknown, but it is an unknown for a horse that keeps finding more each time he runs.
Docklands, the defending champion, is the value play at 8/1. He has won here before and his trainer sends him back fit and fresh.
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Odds quoted are correct at time of writing and subject to change. Always check with your bookmaker for the latest prices before placing a bet.
