The American-trained runners Bound for Nowhere and La Coronel face brutal challenges in Group 1 races at Royal Ascot on Friday.

Bound for Nowhere, unbeaten in two races in Kentucky this year for trainer Wesley Ward, will have his stakes debut against 11 rivals in the $506,520 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on turf. The field is led by Caravaggio, who is unbeaten in five starts for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Barney Roy completed a Royal Ascot opening-day Group 1 double for Godolphin when he won the St. James’s Palace Stakes by one length over Lancaster Bomber. Thunder Snow finished third, and odds-on favorite Churchill ran the worst race of his career, checking in fourth following five straight wins at the Group 1 level.

Godolphin, which also campaigns St. James’s Palace third-place finisher Thunder Snow, won the Group 1 Queen Anne with Ribchester and added a one-two finish in the listed Windsor Castle Stakes on Tuesday with Sound and Silence and Roussel.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, June 21, 2017)

Brett Davis

Race 1: 7-1-4-9

Race 2: 6-4-9-3

Race 3: 5-6-1-10

Race 4: 4-1-2-5

Race 5: 3-2-5-12

Race 6: 8-3-7-1

Race 7: 7-1-10-9

Race 8: 2-3-6-11

Best Bet - Race 3: #5 Phantom Falcon  

Longshot - Race 4: #5 Balay Balay

Best Play - Race 3: Q/QP   1,5,6

Paul Lally

Race 1: 4-1-6-7

Race 2: 4-1-6-7

Race 3: 5-9-6-10

Race 4: 2-4-8-6

The original was a smash hit, and for a change the sequel proved equally satisfying, as Lady Aurelia followed up on her breathtaking win a year ago in the Queen Mary Stakes with a scintillating score Tuesday in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Ribchester cemented his position as Europe’s best miler with a definitive victory Tuesday in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes to launch the 2017 Royal Ascot meeting.

Ridden by William Buick for Godolphin and trainer Richard Fahey, Ribchester followed Miss Temple City through the early and middle stages of the straight-course mile as pacemakers Toscanini and Dutch Uncle shot off to a large lead over the main body of the field. Ribchester moved easily into contention about three furlongs from the finish – too soon for Buick.

Order of St George is the odds-on favorite to win the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Thursday for the second year in a row, but the horse’s reputation at this moment appears to have outpaced his form, and if the Ascot course stays dry, Big Orange will have a chance at an upset.

The Gold Cup is the lone Group 1 on Thursday’s six-race Royal Ascot card that begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. The Gold Cup is the fourth race, post time 11:20, while trainer Wesley Ward’s very quick 2-year-old McErin could start the day with a win in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes.

Jolly Convergence is winless in nine starts in Hong Kong this season, but the gelding’s record is not as discouraging as it seems.

Jolly Convergence was second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in a troubled trip in a six-furlong handicap June 7 and returns at the same level of competition in Wednesday’s $158,375 Lantau Island Handicap at six furlongs on turf at Happy Valley Racecourse.

Highland Reel won the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November and the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs in his most recent start June 2.

Those are brilliant credentials but not enough to make Highland Reel a clear favorite in a tough running of the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.

The five-day Royal Ascot meeting begins Tuesday with an excellent six-race card that includes three Group 1 races and six American runners.

A year after Tepin won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, two more Americans, Miss Temple City and American Patriot, start in Royal Ascot’s traditional first race of the meeting, a testing straight-course mile that has Ribchester as a strong favorite. First post all week at Ascot is 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, June 21, 2017)

RACE 1: #7 Highland Dragon, #4 Sparkling Talent, #3 Kim Glory, #1 Rugby Diamond

RACE 2: #3 Winning Vibe, #1 Gobi Storm, #6 Planet Giant, #7 Plain Blue Banner

RACE 3: #9 Golden Deer, #10 Confucius Spirit, #6 Nashashuk, #5 Phantom Falcon

RACE 4: #2 Fancy Music, #1 King Of Mongolia, #8 King Winsa, #10 Bo Duke