Get out the top hats and tails: Royal Ascot 2024 is upon us. The five-day Royal meeting at venerable Ascot Racecourse launches, as usual, on a Tuesday, a daily morning treat for American racing fans through Saturday’s closing card. The meeting begins with a bang, opening with the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes run over a straight mile. The Tuesday card, the week’s best, features two other Group 1s, the King Charles III (formerly the King’s Stand), a five-furlong sprint; and the St. James’s Palace Stakes, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds. Eight American-based horses are scheduled to race during the meeting – seven if one doesn’t include Crimson Advocate. Crimson Advocate, who won last year at Royal Ascot, has been trained throughout her career by George Weaver, but with Weaver facing a long suspension, subsequently drastically reduced, and connections casting an eye toward other European races, the 3-year-old filly was sent to the English yard of co-trainers John and Thady Gosden. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The Gosdens had been expected to send out the big name in the Queen Anne, Inspiral, but on Friday the mare was taken out of the Queen Anne, connections revealing she’d start instead over 1 1/4 miles in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday. Inspiral finished a flat fourth making her 5-year-old debut in the one-mile Lockinge Stakes, her first start after a brilliant victory over 1 1/4 miles in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Whether Inspiral can duplicate her showing around Santa Anita’s tight course over an entirely different type of 1 1/4-mile test remains to be seen. Her chief competition Wednesday comes from Auguste Rodin and White Birch, the horse that beat Auguste Rodin three lengths May 26 in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. With Inspiral out, Charyn and Audience head the early Queen Anne betting. Audience, trained by the Gosdens, was a surprise front-running winner of the Lockinge, where Charyn rallied for second. Queen Anne hope Big Rock needs softer ground than the good-to-firm designation applied to the Ascot course as of Friday. Big Evs heads the betting for the King Charles following his listed-stakes win at York in the colt’s first run since capturing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. Also entered is Valiant Force, second in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and now back with Ireland-based trainer Adrian Murray after spending the winter in Florida with trainer Jorge Delgado. Headlining Tuesday’s St. James’ Palace is a rematch between Notable Speech and Rosallion, the former having beaten the latter in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Rosallion returned with a sharp win in the Irish 2000 Guineas, while the Aidan O’Brien-trained Henry Longfellow seeks to rebound from a dud in the French 2000 Guineas, his 3-year-old bow. Wednesday brings out the first of four Wesley Ward-trained 2-year-olds scheduled to race at the meet, with Ultima Grace entered in the Queen Mary Stakes, a five-furlong straight-course dash that Ward has won four times. Ultima Grace won a Keeneland dirt sprint in her lone start and has worked forwardly on turf, Ward said. In Wednesday’s Windsor Castle, Ward runs Honorary American, who earned a trip overseas with a strong workout last week in Kentucky. Two other Americans, Gabaldon and Cheval De Guerre, are among the early Windsor Castle entrants. Thursday’s Group 1 feature is the 2 1/2-mile Gold Cup, which has Kyprios as an early odds-on favorite. Kyprios missed last year’s Gold Cup but won the 2022 renewal over a good-to-firm course. Ward also has a runner Thursday, the filly Saturday Flirt, a Keeneland maiden turf winner who goes in the Norfolk Stakes. Friday’s Group 1 co-features are the Coronation Cup, a one-turn mile for 3-year-old fillies, and the Commonwealth Cup, for 3-year-olds over a straight six furlongs. Fallen Angel impressively won the Irish 1000 Guineas in her most recent start but was second choice in early Coronation betting behind the O’Brien-trained Opera Singer, third in the Irish Guineas. Two Americans race Friday, Burning Pine for Ward in the Albany Stakes, and Missed the Cut, who tackles tough older 1 1/2-mile foes in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes. Trained by California-based John Sadler, Missed the Cut won the Golden Gate Handicap at the 2022 Royal Ascot meeting, but his solid American form this year is unlikely to make him competitive in Friday’s test. The closing-day feature is the six-furlong Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee, which is expected to attract the Australian horse Chain of Lightning. Chain of Lightning is trained by Peter Moody, who sent Black Caviar to win this race 2012. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.