Royal Ascot's opening Group One races
Usually with the major meetings the big races of the day are introduced gradually over the course of the day or meeting, well with Royal Ascot they have so many jewels in the crown they can afford to give racegoers and punters alike three of the best straight away on the opening day.
There are seven Group 1 races over the course of the five days at the Royal Meeting with three of them dominating the opening day. First up is the Queen Anne Stakes run over the straight mile for four year olds and upwards, the race was first created in 1840 and the title was only changed to its current format in 1930 to commemorate Queen Anne, the monarch who established racing at Ascot in the early 18th century. The race has gradually had its status increased over the years and attained the Group 1 tag in 2003. In recent years the "boys in blue" – Godolphin have been very successful in the race having won the race seven times since 1996, their most success coming with Ramonti in 2007. Those looking at the Royal Ascot betting offers should remember their good record in the race.
The second in the trio of Group 1's is for the speedballs over the minimum trip of 5F – The King's Stand Stakes. First run in 1860, the event has come to be the most important sprint run at the Royal Meeting; however it hasn't always been a Group 1 event after starting life with that status in 1971 when the current grading system was introduced. It was downgraded to a Group 2 in 1988 before gaining its top level status in 2005. The Royal Ascot 2011 betting suggests it should be a good contest. The King's Stand Stakes became part of a new international race series, the Global Sprint Challenge, in 2005. It consequently featured a number of high-quality contenders from overseas and three Australian contenders have been successful in the past five years.
Completing the Tuesday triumvirate of Group One races is the St. James's Palace Stakes which takes place over a mile. First run in 1834 it is named after a royal residence during the Tudor period. The event usually features horses that have won or run well in the big mile classic races so far that season such as the 2,000 Guineas, the Poule d'Essai des Poulains or the Irish 2,000 Guineas.
Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien is the leading trainer in the race over the past decade, landing the race six times and three times in the past four years, his monopoly only broken last year by Canford Cliffs from the Richard Hannon stable.
Those three Group 1 races form probably the best start to major meeting anywhere in the World.
