Leading Irish filly Homeless Songs won’t be racing, but the two American fillies that have traveled to England for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot still face daunting competition. Spendarella, trained by Graham Motion, and Pizza Bianca, trained by Christophe Clement, shipped across the Atlantic last week and were among a dozen 3-year-old fillies that passed the final entry stage for the Coronation, a one-turn mile. Neither Motion, a native of England, nor Clement, who is from France, have won at Royal Ascot, and few observers expect a breakthrough Friday, though both American horses are very good. Homeless Songs looked like a star winning the Irish 1000 Guineas for trainer Dermot Weld, but Weld said days ago that without meaningful rain to soften the Ascot course, Homeless Songs wouldn’t be running. There hasn’t been, and she won’t be. That leaves Inspiral as the Coronation favorite, and a worthy one, too, though she has yet to race as a 3-year-old. Co-trainers John and Thady Gosden and owner-breeder Cheveley Park Stud hoped the filly would be ready for spring classics, but Inspiral had a minor setback a couple months ago that cost her just enough training to miss races like the 1000 Guineas in England, Ireland, and France. :: Royal Ascot 2022: Get PPs, previews, analysis, recaps, and more Connections took a patient approach, and Inspiral can reward them accordingly Friday. By Frankel, Inspiral swept through a four-start 2-year-old campaign without coming close to losing, ending her season with a comfortable victory in the Group 1 Fillies Mile over a straight mile at Newmarket. She won at four different courses last year, has talent to spare, and will be favored Friday under Frankie Dettori. Cachet went wire to wire winning the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, came back to finish a solid second in the French version of the one-mile Classic, and is joined in the Coronation by the filly Mangoustine, who beat her last out in France. Also running are Discoveries, who is better than her seventh-place English 1000 Guineas finish, and Prosperous Voyage, who split Cachet and third-place Tuesday (subsequent winner of the Oaks at Epsom) in the 1000 Guineas. Pizza Bianca won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall, but it’s Spendarella, who didn’t even debut until Feb. 2, that’s the shorter price for the Coronation – and likely the stronger prospect. Spendarella won a maiden race and the Grade 3 Hersomesthebride, two-turn turf races at Gulfstream Park, while racing on the lead, but showed she also could harness that abundant speed and kick home strongly when she notched an eye-catching score in the Appalachian on April 9 at Keeneland. Motion gave his filly a three-furlong workout Monday in England and has signed up William Buick to ride. Clement also has a runner, Slipstream, in Friday’s other Group 1, the six-furlong, straight-course Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds. The American filly Campanelle won this race via disqualification last year, and Slipstream isn’t without a chance. Slipstream could only finish sixth in the BC Juvenile Turf, but that two-turn contest was beyond his scope, and he has shown plenty of talent winning three grass sprints. The 5 1/2-furlong Palisades at Keeneland came at a distance short of his best, but Slipstream still closed stoutly to nip Wesley Ward’s very capable filly Twilight Gleaming, who returned to win the Mamzelle Stakes at Churchill Downs. :: Bet Royal Ascot racing on DRF Bets Still, overseas horses familiar with straight-course racing figure to have an edge, and they’re led by Perfect Power, Europe’s top 2-year-old sprinter of 2021. Bred in Ireland but trained in England by Richard Fahey, Perfect Power won two Group 1 sprints – the Prix Morny and the Middle Park – last season, and after an encouraging seven-furlong comeback win to launch his 3-year-old campaign, Perfect Power simply didn’t stay a testing mile in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. El Caballo, Ehraz, The Twilight Jet, and Go Bears Go also have gotten plenty of support in the antepost wagering markets overseas. Ward sent Campanelle out to her 2021 Commonwealth win, and while he has no runner for this year’s race, he does send favored Ruthin into the listed Palace of Holyroodhouse, a five-furlong straight-course sprint that’s the last of seven races Friday. Ruthin, seventh of 27 runners in the Windsor Castle during the 2021 Royal Ascot meeting, beat males in the Limestone Stakes at Keeneland in April, her lone start of 2022. Changingoftheguard, a respectable fifth of 17 in the Epsom Derby, and Godolphin’s Ottoman Fleet headline the Group 2 King Edward, for 3-year-olds over 1 1/2 miles. First post for the Friday card is 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Catch all the action at DRFBets.com.