Rhododendron, Benbatl, Yoshida clash in Queen Anne Stakes

There is no soft opening to the Royal Ascot meeting, which launches right into full flight Tuesday with one of the best races of the five-day meet, the Group 1 Queen Anne over a straight-course mile.

The Queen Anne has a bumper field of 15, but if you haven’t heard the news, there are no standout milers in Europe this year.

The 4-year-old filly Rhododendron is a tepid favorite in early betting, and in addition to being trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, she gets a female weight allowance from the 14 males. But Rhododendron’s candidacy rests in no small part upon a victory last out in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes over a mile at Newbury. There, Rhododendron won by a nose over Lightning Spear, a 7-year-old who is very familiar with the Queen Anne, having been ninth, eight lengths behind Ribchester, last year and third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Tepin, in 2016.

The second favorite is Benbatl, whose strong winter campaign in Dubai ended with a decisive victory in the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Turf. But a year ago, Benbatl was racing in the 1 1/2-mile Epsom Derby, and while the Dubai Turf is contested at about 1 1/8 miles around two turns, Benbatl, trained for Godolphin by Saeed bin Suroor, might not be equally suited to the demands of a straight-course mile.

Third favorite Recoletos comes off a win in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan, but that’s not saying a lot: There were five others in an unquestionably soft edition of the Ispahan.

The more one looks at the Queen Anne, the more the lone American in the race, Yoshida, looks like he has a chance. Keep in mind that it has been all of two years since an American – Tepin – won the Queen Anne.

Yoshida is one of a dozen Americans who have made the ever-more-popular ship across the pond for Royal Ascot, and they are being welcomed this year by favorable conditions. The Ascot course was watered over the weekend to keep it from becoming too fast and is expected to be “good to firm” on Tuesday and throughout the week.

Trainer Wesley Ward, who has nine of the American shippers, is thrilled about the dry weather, and while he has no one in the Queen Anne, he sends out Lady Aurelia on Tuesday in the Group 1 King’s Stand, a race the 4-year-old filly won a year ago.

The King’s Stand drew a second American, Bucchero, while Gidu for Todd Pletcher runs in the Commonwealth Cup on Friday; the rest of the crew all comes from the Ward outfit. Ward has the favorite, Chelsea Cloisters, for the Queen Mary Stakes on Wednesday, while the Wednesday feature, the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, has Cracksman as a prohibitive favorite. Asked to name a longer-priced horse with a strong chance to surprise this week, Ward tabbed Bound For Nowhere, an early 12-1 shot in Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Ward has run dozens of horses at Ascot, but Yoshida is just the second for trainer Bill Mott, who sent out Long On Value to finish 12th in the Diamond Jubilee last year.

“I believe we learned something last year – just the lay of the land,” Mott said. “We’re probably going to make a couple small adjustments.”

Yoshida, a Japan-bred by Heart’s Cry, has run to form over a variety of U.S. tracks, and Mott believes the straight course won’t trouble him. The Queen Anne, a Win and You're In for the Breeders' Cup Mile, is contested on an incline, making it a testing mile, which is fine for Yoshida, who comes off a win in his 4-year-old debut going 1 1/8 miles on wet turf in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Jose Ortiz makes his European debut on Yoshida, who rates kindly, has good acceleration, and remains a lightly raced horse with upside. It’s not out of the question that the most anticipated race meeting in Europe (first post, 9:30 a.m. Eastern) starts with an American flavor.