June 15 (UPI) — The carriages scarcely will have stopped rolling before the top-level action gets going Tuesday at Royal Ascot.

The very first race on the first of five festive days is the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, a 1-mile test down the straight course that promises to be among the best of whole meeting.

Godolphin runners Notable Speech, winner of the Lockinge Stakes, and Opera Ballo, victorious in the bet365 Mile at Sandown, are favorites in a field of 10. More Thunder, Zeus Olympios and Docklands add to the contentious mix.

Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin operation really could use a good start to the Royal meeting as results for the first half of the year have been somewhat beneath the usual lofty expectations.

And Rebel’s Romance averted a third straight winless Royal Ascot for the Godolphin team by winning the Hardwicke Stakes on the last day of 2025.

However, it’s Ireland’s Coolmore “lads” who seem to have the strongest hand across the meeting. There are 28 races through the first four days. Coolmore horses trained by Aidan O’Brien are early favorites in seven, and in the top three in four more. In several races, they have first and second favorites.

Just three races after the Queen Anne, things get even more challenging in the day’s eagerly anticipated feature, the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 mile on the Round Course.

In that, Bow Echo puts his 4-for-4 mark on the line as one of the hottest commodities of the week. The Night of Thunder colt, trained by George Boughey, carries the yellow and black dotted silks of the late Sheik Mohammed Obaid al Maktoum.

His main rival is Coolmore’s Gstaad and Bow Echo slapped a 2 3/4-length beating on him when they last met in the Group 1 1,000 Guineas.

Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby will count on Talk of New York, who will have to step it up again after impressive back-to-back wins well down in class at Newmarket and Sandown.

Three-year-olds and up charge 5 furlongs down the straight in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes with the first serious whiff of global competition in the air. Early favorite for the frantic dash is Australian-trained Overpass.

The 7-year-old Vancouver gelding has been generally competitive back home, but his last win came in November 2024 at Ascot — the Australian Ascot. The favorite’s role may be bolstered as much by history as performance as Aussie runners have won the race six times since the turn of the century.

The Aga Khan Studs brings Rayevka from France after a win at Longchamp on May 10 ended a long dry spell, and the 4-year-old Blue Point filly is a logical fallback position after Overpass — also with an historical spin.

Blue Point, who ran for Godolphin, won the King Charles, then called the King’s Stand, in 2018 and the following year scored the rare double of that race and the 1,200-meters Group 1 Diamond Jubilee, now the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee, just four days later.

The Group 2 Coventry Stakes for 2-year-olds is contested at 6 furlongs with a full field of 28 expected to go. Go figure, but O’Brien has three for Coolmore, including two of the early favorites in Confucius and Great Barrier Reef. The third is Sergei Diaghilev. Sons Joseph Patrick and Donnacha have two and one entered, respectively.

Rounding out Day 1 are the Ascot Stakes, a heritage handicap at 2 1/2 miles; the 1 1/4-mile Wolferton Stakes with 30 entries drawn and a maximum of 16 to start; and the Copper Horse Stakes at 1 3/4 miles and 57 entries, also for the maximum 16 spots.

Day 2 has only one Group 1 event but it’s a doozy, with the Aga Khan Studs’ 2025 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Daryz, looking to extend his 2026 win streak to three.

The 4-year-old son of Sea the Stars has been defeated only twice in nine starts and beaten badly only once. The big loss was a sixth-place finish in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York last August in his only start outside France.

Godolphin’s Ombudsman won that event and is the main rival in Wednesday’s race with eight wins and three seconds from 11 career starts.

Daryz’s other loss, coincidentally, was a second in last year’s Group 3 Prix du Prince d’Orange — an Arc prep. The winner of that race, Japan’s Croix du Nord, flopped in the Arc, but finished second in Sunday’s Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse.

Sheik Ahmed al Maktoum’s Almaqam can’t be dismissed after winning the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on May 24, with Bay City Roller and Minnie Hauk well in his wake. Minnie Hauk is back for another go for O’Brien’s Coolmore squad.

The Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies seems as wide-open an affair as you’d want. American trainer Wesley Ward, who missed last year’s Royal Meeting, makes up for lost time with five entries although not all might get into the massively oversubscribed 5-furlongs sprint.

O’Brien has the Group 2 Queen’s Vase surrounded with five entries for the 18 stalls, including the early favorite, Endorsement. The 3-year-old Wootton Bassett filly exits a 7-length victory in the King George V Cup at Leopardstown.

Twenty fillies and mares are set to tackle 1 mile on the Round Course in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes. Juddmonte’s Blue Bolt, another by Blue Point, holds the early favorite role after a season-opening win at Goodwood.

Thursday is Gold Cup day. The 2 1/2-mile marathon has become an international fixture, with Coolmore’s Scandinavia, a Kentucky-bred Justify colt, the early favorite off five straight wins, including last year’s Group 1 St Leger.

O’Brien, Scandinavia’s trainer, won the race in 2022 and 2024 with the remarkable Kyprios. Rahiebb and Trawlerman, successful marathoners both, also are in the mix.

The supporting Group races on the Thursday card are the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and the Hampton Court for 3-year-olds. The Juddmonte operation has the two favorites in the Ribblesdale and Coolmore has the top two in the Hampton Court.

Things heat up again Friday with the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at 6 furlongs, the Group 1 Coronation Stakes with 3-year-old fillies going 1 mile, the Group 2 King Edward VII at 1 1/2 miles and the Group 3 Albany Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Two of Coolmore’s star fillies, Precise and True Love, are entered in the Coronation Stakes, and they are the favorites among 10 after finishing 1-2 in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh last time out.

Benvenuto Cellini, deemed a non-runner after an unfair start as the favorite in the Betfred Derby on June 6, is back in the King Edward as part of a four-strong Coolmore team. The favorite and one to watch is Water to Wine, a George Strawbridge homebred 3-year-old by Kingman who puts a 2-for-2 record on the line in a bold move.

Massive fields are on tap for many of the other Friday heats. Trainer Ward has one of America’s best hopes, Outfielder, in the Commonwealth Cup at early odds of 20-1.

The king and queen own Warrant Holder, one of the favorites in Friday’s Duke of Edinburgh Stakes with William Buick set to ride for trainers John and Thady Gosden.

Saturday is getaway day, but also could be international day as the feature, the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, has Joliestar and Overpass from Australia and Satono Reve and Lugal from Japan in a global all-star 6-furlong dash. Sajar invades from France for Prince Faisal to add another language to the cheers.