Simon Rowlands shares his exclusive sectional ratings on this season's leading Royal Ascot-bound juveniles.

One of the unexpected consequences of racing being suspended during the first lockdown last spring was a certain clarity of intent when the show came back on the road.

The two-year-old scene was particularly affected, as an entire early-season in Britain was crammed into June. Many of those juveniles who did appear early in the month were clearly being aimed at Royal Ascot just a couple of weeks later.

Joseph O’Brien has put a line through Thunder Moon’s disappointing display in the 2000 Guineas and hopes he can bounce back in the St James’s Palace Stakes next week.

The event for three-year-old colts at Royal Ascot usually brings together the Guineas formlines along with those who missed the Classics for one reason or another.

Thunder Moon went off an 11-2 chance at Newmarket but trailed home last of the 14 runners.

Ed Walker feels he is taking his strongest ever team to Royal Ascot next week – headlined by Diamond Jubilee hope Starman and live Coronation Stakes contender Primo Bacio.

Walker only has one winner at the showpiece meeting to his name – Agrotera in the 2018 Sandringham Stakes – but with leading chances in two of the features races of the week, which are both part of the British Champions Series, as well as a handful of chances in the handicaps, Walker is counting down the hours until it all kicks off on Tuesday.

The 2021 Royal Ascot meeting will see the very welcome return of crowds to proceedings and nothing quite matches the roar from the spectators as the winners flash past the imposing Grandstand and take their very welcome route back to the winner's enclosure.

The Royal meeting is a wonderful occasion where all the pomp and circumstance of British society join up to celebrate five days of the finest horseracing in the world and is set up in a grand background of top fashion.

By Simon Rowlands

If you name a horse after one of the greatest icons of excellence of all time then you had better hope that it proves to be pretty good. That was the challenge created by those involved with naming a son of Sea The Stars and Private Life a few years back.

The chestnut colt, called STRADIVARIUS after the renowned maker of violins that still command huge prices to this day, had a lot to live up to in one respect, if much less in another. Past uses of the name had included the of-no-account hurdler trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies in 1995.

Since early January, Riding the Wave has lost five consecutive races in listed and group-level stakes at tracks in Melbourne and southern Australia.

A much-needed drop in class into a competitive handicap at Swan Hill Racecourse on Friday could put an end to the slump and give the 5-year-old gelding his first win since Jan. 1.

Riding the Wave is part of an excellent field of 13 in the $77,300 Golden Topaz Handicap. Several horses with recent stakes experience should make the Golden Topaz an honest test.

Palace Pier will face a maximum of 11 rivals when he bids for back-to-back Group One victories at Royal Ascot in the Queen Anne Stakes.

John and Thady Gosden’s star miler won a thrilling renewal of the St James’s Palace Stakes last summer – and will be a hot favourite to double his tally in the race which opens next week’s showpiece meeting on Tuesday, having made an impressive start to his campaign in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

Wesley Ward is delighted to be back in Britain as he saddles another strong team of runners for Royal Ascot next week.

It is 12 years since the then little-known American became the first US-based trainer to land a winner at the showpiece meeting, with Strike The Tiger claiming a 33-1 victory in the Windsor Castle. The following day, he sent out Jealous Again to win the Queen Mary Stakes.

Mark McNamara:

R1 2.1.4.10
R2 5.8.6.12
R3 5.1.4.7
R4 2.4.6.1
R5 4.1.11.5.
R6 7.3.2.6
R7 4.9.2.12
R8 1.5.7.2
R9 1.6.3.7

Best Bet R6 N7 Good Buddy
Longshot R7 N4 Cinquante Cinq
Play R3 Trio 1.4.5

:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, analysis, replays, and live streaming

Paul Lally:

The timing of a six-furlong handicap at Ballarat Racecourse in Australia on Thursday looks to be a perfect fit for the 4-year-old gelding Just Jake.

A winner of 3 of 17 starts, Just Jake was second by two lengths as the 4-1 favorite in a six-furlong handicap at Cranbourne Racecourse on May 28 in his first start since December. Just Jake closed from sixth in a field of 11 to finish behind Galactic Express, a winner of two of his last three starts.