Royal Ascot 2022 Opening Day Preview: Baaeed to Shine in Queen Anne Stakes

Baaeed Poised to Deliver as Punters’ Banker on Opening Day of Royal Ascot 2022

As the Royal Ascot Festival kicks off, all eyes will be on Baaeed as he bids to extend his unbeaten record to eight in the prestigious Queen Anne Stakes, the opening event of the week. William Haggas’ prized charge, who is expected to be no price at all in the mile heat, is the only logical option after delivering an impressive return in last month’s Lockinge Stakes.

The four-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise, making his debut just last June before quickly working his way through the ranks to secure a first Group One triumph at ParisLongchamp in September. Baaeed then went on to topple Palace Pier in the QEII at this very track in his final run of the year, and his seasonal bow at Newmarket was equally as dominant, dispatching a field of eight race-fit rivals with ease.

Coroebus, the 2000 Guineas hero, is another short-priced favorite, this time in the St James’s Palace Stakes. Charlie Appleby’s runner was a decisive winner at Newmarket, holding stablemate Native Trail at bay, and his only defeat came when just edged out by Royal Patronage in the Royal Lodge Stakes last year. As he steps away from Newmarket for the first time, there’s no reason to believe Coroebus can’t prove equally effective going around a bend.

In the King’s Stand Stakes, the Australian speedster Nature Strip, trained by Chris Waller, could prove the solution. With stablemate Home Affairs set for the Platinum Jubilee Stakes over six furlongs, Nature Strip switches back to the minimum distance, a trip on which he is a Group One winner, having landed last year’s Black Caviar Lightning.

Blackbeard, the son of No Nay Never, looks a likely type in the ever-competitive Coventry Stakes. The colt has won each of his three career outings, graduating from a Maiden at Dundalk to a Listed contest at the Curragh before taking Group Three gold in his most recent start.

Arcadian Sunrise, fourth in the Chester Cup on his seasonal bow, could prove a likely type for the Ascot Stakes, while Cleveland, the Chester Cup winner, can make it a double on the day for Aidan O’Brien in the closing Copper Horse Stakes.

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