John Gosden first won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1994, and there will a host of downcast bettors if he fails to win it for a fourth time on Wednesday. Gosden trains Cracksman, the shortest-priced favorite in a major Royal Ascot stakes race all this week. As of Monday morning he was priced at 4-7 in overseas early wagering for the Prince of Wales’s – and that doesn’t feel too short, really. Cracksman, a 4-year-old Frankel colt owned by Anthony Oppenheimer, has raced once over the Ascot course, winning the Group 1 Champion Stakes last October by seven lengths. The ground was soft that day, but things could unfold similarly Wednesday over good going at the same 1 1/4-mile distance. Part of that is about Cracksman, who has developed into elite horse over the last year, and part about the competition: Only six others are entered in the Prince of Wales’s and consider that the solid second choice Poet’s Word was the horse seven lengths adrift of Cracksman in the Champion Stakes. It’s fascinating to watch early racing video of Cracksman and compare his awkward, scattered stride to the polished racehorse he has become, and at the top of his game, Cracksman will notch his fourth straight Group 1 on Wednesday. That said, Cracksman was not at the top his game despite winning the Coronation Cup on June 1 at Epsom. There, he struggled to get untracked and run down pace-setting Salouen, finally reaching the 40-1 shot in the last half-furlong and pushing out very late to win by a head. Jockey Frankie Dettori attributed the subpar performance to the downhill portion of the Epsom course that apparently unsettles Cracksman, and the Ascot track presents no such obstacle. The Prince of Wales’s is the fourth race on a Wednesday card (post time 11:20 a.m. Eastern) that begins with the Queen Mary Stakes (post time 9:30). This is the race that made Wesley Ward’s name in European racing and opened the gates to a steady stream of American participation at Royal Ascot. The Ward-trained Jealous Again won the 2009 Queen Mary, becoming the first American group winner at the Royal meet, and Ward won the five-furlong Queen Mary in 2015 with Acapulco and in 2016 with Lady Aurelia. Ward is widely expected to take another on Wednesday, as Chelsea Cloisters is a short early price in a massive field. Chelsea Cloisters is one of 22 in the Queen Mary and was trading at barely more than 2-1 Monday morning. She has post 14 for the straight-course sprint and will be ridden by Dettori, and Ward loves her chances. “She’s coming into this race as good as any horse I’ve ever brought here with the exception of Lady Aurelia,” Ward said Friday. Chelsea Cloisters debuted on dirt at Keeneland, broke professionally from post 1, made the lead without being asked, and strode powerfully to a fast eight-length win under her own courage. A similar performance stands a good chance of making her Ward’s fourth Queen Mary winner.