Royal Ascot Tuesday Tips: Mark Milligan's four to back on the opening day at odds up to 7/1

Queen Anne Stakes, 14:30, Royal Ascot - Back Opera Ballo @ 10/34.33

7 (7)

Opera Ballo (Ire)

• J: Billy Loughnane
• T: Charlie Appleby
• F:

Regular readers will know I'm a passionate fan of international racing, but for me there is no better meeting on the planet than Royal Ascot, where we have a feast of top-class action over five successive days.

The meeting always starts with a bang as the Group 1 Queen Anne gets things under way and whichever way you slice it up, this race goes through Charlie Appleby and Godolphin as they field two of the strongest contenders.

Notable Speech is the choice of William Buick and he was right back to his best in the Lockinge last time having suffered a luckless passage out at Keeneland on his previous start.

The 2024 winner of the 2000 Guineas has a sharp turn of foot and will be produced late but I'm hoping his stablemate Opera Ballo may have his measure from a more prominent position.

The four-year-old travels really strongly and had plenty in hand when taking the Sandown Mile from Field Of Gold last time and that form looks as strong as any on offer in here.

King Charles III Stakes, 15:40, Royal Ascot - Back Overpass @ 3/14.00 (NAP)

9 (19)

Overpass (Aus)

• J: Joshua Parr
• T: Bjorn Baker, Australia
• F:

The King Charles III Stakes has attracted the biggest field in 20 years as 26 runners go to post, but it may not turn out to be quite as competitive as the numbers suggest if Australian raider Overpass turns up with his 'A' game.

He may be an eight-year-old now but his form of late shows little sign of waning and he comes into the race with a string of solid in-frame finishes to his name.

You only have to go back to October of last year to see the best single piece of form on offer in this contest when the selection was fourth to the best sprinter in the world Ka Ying Rising in the Everest at Randwick. A repeat of that and it's hard to see any of his European rivals getting close to Overpass.

Obviously, with such a big field, we do have the potential prosect that things could get a bit messy from a draw/trouble in running perspective, but Overpass has plenty of speed in his arsenal and he should be able to work out a good trip under Josh Parr.

The returning Asfoora took this for the Aussies in 2024 before finishing fifth in last year's renewal and she may well give the selection most to do, particularly as the blinkers she wore for several of her successes last season are back on.

St James's Palace Stakes, 16:20, Royal Ascot - Back Talk Of New York @ 5/16.00

6 (3)

Talk Of New York

• J: William Buick
• T: Charlie Appleby
• F:

Given that Bow Echo achieved one of the highest Timeform ratings in the modern era when winning the 2000 Guineas, I may regret taking him on here, but that's exactly what I'm going to do.

There's no doubt George Boughey's colt was mightily impressive when beating Gstaad at Newmarket, and the runner-up franked that form in no uncertain terms when winning the Irish equivalent last time, and many will expect that pair to have this between them once more.

However, I'm firmly of the opinion that Godolphin's Talk Of New York is a top-class performer in the making and he could well crash the party on his first try in Group 1 company.

Having won three of his four starts, including when bolting up in listed company at Sandown last time, there's clearly still plenty of cope for improvement from the son of Wootton Bassett, and that latest success was validated by a high-class timefigure.

Of course, this is the acid test as he steps up into the top level for the first time, but he's bred to be a Group 1 performer and the way he travels through his races suggests he won't be out of place at the top table.

Wolferton Stakes, 17:35, Royal Ascot - Back Nahraan @ 7/18.00

12 (9)

Nahraan

• J: Oisin Murphy
• T: John & Thady Gosden
• F:

While the listed Wolferton Stakes isn't among the very classiest of contests during the week, it nearly always draws a competitive field and is amongst my favourite betting races of the meeting, and there's one in this year's line-up who has the potential to be significantly better than this level.

John & Thady Gosden's Nahraan hasn't been seen since finishing third in a Group 3 at Longchamp last September, but that was no ordinary Group 3, as it was taken by the high-class Japanese raider Croix Du Nord from subsequent Arc winner Daryz.

That form is head and shoulders above anything that the rest of the field can come up with and, providing Nahraan is ready to go following his extended layoff, he should take plenty of beating.

There's obviously a slight concern that the selection may be just a little rusty compared to some of his rivals, but this stable knows how to ready one and that was in evidence just a few days ago as Gregory returned from an even longer break to win at York.

Mark Milligan's Day 1 Royal Ascot double

Betfair is offering Bet £10 Get £10 on Racing Multis each day of Royal Ascot, and the multi that makes the most appeal is a win double using Overpass in the 15:40 and Willie Mullins' Reaching High in the big staying handicap at 17:00. Ryan Moore takes the mount on the Royal-owned selection in the latter and there would be no more appropriate winner on the opening day than this one.

Now read the rest of our Royal Ascot tips here!