Fahey fancies, Group-race pointers and Joseph mob-handed - three key talking points as we look towards day two

Confirmations and entries were made on Thursday for the seven races on day two of Royal Ascot next Wednesday. Here are three talking points to arise from those

Key day for Fahey's exciting team

Richard Fahey will send his strongest team of two-year-olds to Royal Ascot and the second day looks crucial to his fortunes for the week.

The Malton trainer has entered three of his best juveniles in last Saturday's Beverley winners Midnight Affair and Bombay Bazaar and Carlisle debut victor Malc.

Midnight Affair, who justified strong market support in the Hilary Needler, will look to provide last year's winning owner Steve Parkin with back-to-back victories in the Queen Mary Stakes.

Two Year Old Trophy scorer Bombay Bazaar is in line for the Windsor Castle, a race Fahey has won before, and he could be joined by Middleham Park's Malc.

Fahey has a proven pedigree in Royal Ascot's two-year-old races, including winning the Norfolk Stakes for the last two years.  

Although Wednesday promises to be a key day, the stable might already be on the board if the rumours circling the north about the chances of Emperor's Son in Tuesday's Coventry are well founded.
Andrew Dietz, reporter

Race conditions give classier fillies the chance to Prosper

The Duke of Cambridge Stakes has been a playground for trends followers over the last decade and, while the lack of runners carrying a penalty this year strikes one key stat off the list, there is another angle which it has paid to take notice of. 

Four of the nine winners before Saffron Beach in 2022 had either won a Group 1 before the penalty date of August 31 the previous year or had gone very close in one.

When adding in Group 2 performances, all told seven of the ten winners had exhibited top-class form with five winning the Duke of Cambridge unpenalised. 

Step forward Laurel, who carries no extra weight for finishing second to Fonteyn in the Sun Chariot last October. 

Representing the Gosden-Dettori tandem, Laurel has not been missed in the market and is currently challenging Jumbly for favouritism, although she was well beaten against the colts in the Lockinge. 

You could make a case that Prosperous Voyage is somewhat underbet having toppled Integral in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes last July before returning to the winner's circle at Epsom at the start of this month. That win in the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes came under Dettori, who is already jocked up on Laurel.

The supplemented Rogue Millennium has been introduced into the betting at 16-1, but Tom Clover’s four-year-old is another with an interesting profile given the recent history of this race, having run well in defeat in the Prix Allez France and the Middleton Stakes over 1m2f.
Scott Burton, France correspondent

Prosperous Voyage wins the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom last timeCredit: GROSSICK RACING

Son could upstage father 

At the tender age of 30, Joseph O'Brien has already proved he can do it all over the world and it is hard to believe he actually has four more entries than his father Aidan at Royal Ascot on Wednesday. 

O'Brien snr has nine possible runners at this stage, his team captained by Luxembourg in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, but Joseph could have as many as 13 runners on day two and the banker for so many will be Jumbly in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes. 

The filly, formerly trained by Roger and Harry Charlton, is mainly 2-1, though there is some 9-4 available, and her stable debut in a Group 2 at the Curragh on Irish Guineas weekend should leave her cherry ripe for this. It was the perfect pipe-opener. 

Joseph O'Brien has as many as five entered in the Kensington Palace Stakes, and it is interesting to see top Australian-based rider James McDonald already jocked up on Yerwanthere. 

Etna Rosso is also a fascinating entry for the trainer in the Queen's Vase so it could be a very big day for O'Brien, and maybe not just Aidan.
David Jennings, deputy Ireland editor

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