An American horse, Tepin, in 2016, has won the Queen Anne Stakes. An American-owned one has as good a chance as anyone in this year’s renewal, which will set in motion the five-day Royal Ascot meeting of 2024. Facteur Cheval campaigns for Team Valor International and Gary Barber and is one of 14 set to contest the Queen Anne, a straight-course mile that’s the first of three Group 1 races on Tuesday’s program. The mare Inspiral might have been favored in the Queen Anne but instead runs later this week in the 1 1/4-mile Prince of Wales Stakes. In her absence – and perhaps even if she were running – this Queen Anne looks wide open. The tepid favorite in antepost betting Sunday was Charyn, a 4-year-old with a grand total of zero Group 1 wins on his resume. Charyn went winless in 2023 and is attracting support based on his win two starts ago in the Group 2 Sandown Mile and on his second-place finish last month in the Group 1 J.T. Lockinge Stakes. The betting public is cold on the upset Lockinge winner, Audience, yet for some reason is inclined to support a horse that fell to him with no apparent excuse. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Big Rock last fall beat Facteur Cheval by six lengths in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, but that race was run on a very soft course over which Big Rock excelled. Ascot on Sunday was good to firm and drying out to the extent that the clerk of the course said he had tentatively planned two periods of watering before the meeting commences. Good to firm ground does Big Rock no favors, but Facteur Cheval moves up on it. Barry Irwin of Team Valor engineered the private purchase of Facteur Cheval after the horse won his debut in April 22 by five lengths. Facteur Cheval had a solid 2022 season, improved throughout 2023 to the point he was racing competitively in Group 1s, and in March broke through with his first major win when he captured the Group 1, $5 million Dubai Turf at Meydan – a race run over good going at 1 1/8 miles. It’s not like Facteur Cheval has not produced good form on European courses rather than Meydan’s American-style track. The gelding is well suited to the testing mile on Ascot’s straight course, and there’s ample evidence he runs his best with less give in the ground. Dolayli holds interest at a longer price. Shipping from France for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, Dolayli missed his entire 3-year-old season in 2023 before returning to action this winter with eye-catching wins on the French all-weather circuit. The last was a five-length tally over Junko, who had closed his 2023 campaign with Group 1s in Germany and Hong Kong. Doylali performed respectably in two French turf starts this spring; both were run over soft ground, and Doylali easily could prefer firmer footing. Last out, in the Prix d’Ispahan, the horse did not appear especially comfortable with the going beneath him, but still seized a lead in midstretch before being passed late by three rivals. A turn-back in distance from 1 1/8 miles to one mile does not hurt Dolayli. And finally, lightly raced 5-year-old Maljoom, trained by William Haggas, who won this race with Baaeed in 2022, has the look of a fast-ground horse set to improve significantly in his second start of the year and just his third race since finishing fourth in the St. James’s Palace Stakes on opening day of the 2022 Royal Ascot meet. The St. James’s Palace, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds, closes the Group racing action Tuesday and has Notable Speech at the head of betting market – with good reason. Notable Speech has four wins to start his career, and when Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby moved the colt from three all-weather starts into the English 2000 Guineas, Notable Speech won by 1 1/2 lengths. The Guineas is a straight mile, but Notable Speech ran around tighter turns in his all-weather starts than the one he’ll be tasked with negotiating Tuesday. And the horse soundly beaten into second in the Guineas, Rosallion, flattered Notable Speech winning the Irish 2000 Guineas three weeks later. Rosallion goes well enough on good ground and on Sunday was second choice for the St. James’s Palace. A crack 2-year-old last year, Rosallion, by the sprinter Blue Point, was uncertain to get one mile this year and probably wants no more distance than he gets Tuesday. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Henry Longfellow on Sunday was closing on Rosallion for second favorite. Unbeaten in three starts at age 2, Henry Longfellow was just eighth in the French 2000 Guineas, his seasonal debut, but did not have much of a trip in the race and figures to come considerably forward Tuesday. Seventeen are entered in the King Charles III, a five-furlong straight-course dash for 3-year-olds and older. The 3-year-old Big Evs gets six pounds from the older horses and on Sunday was co-favored with 6-year-old Regional. Big Evs is very much the five-furlong specialist and won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last fall over that trip. Back from a winter break for trainer Mick Appleby, Big Evs scored a sharp listed stakes win at York in his prep for the King Charles. Three-year-old Bradsell won last year’s edition, and 3-year-old filly Lady Aurelia tallied in 2017. Wesley Ward trained Lady Aurelia, and while Ward is in England with four 2-year-olds for this meet, none are in Tuesday’s Group 2 Coventry Stakes over six furlongs – but 23 other juveniles are. First post for the card is 9:30 a.m. Eastern. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.