Less shiny if California Chrome does not run, Royal Ascot scene will still be like no other

Ascot // They may not be coming from as far and as wide as for Dubai World Cup night in March, and there is certainly less money on offer, but Royal Ascot’s idiosyncratic charms make it a place like nowhere else over the next five days.

This year Ascot opens its gates to the largest contingent of horses from outside of Europe in its history.

Twenty horses have come to England from jurisdictions such as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and America, and most of those are seeking the breeding stamp that only Ascot can ­provide.

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Poster horses such as Able Friend, the best horse to come from Hong Kong, Criterion, Australia’s first real challenger at the meeting beyond 1,600 metres, and 10 horses from Wesley Ward’s US stables all add to an international flavour that was strangely watered down 12 months ago.

The meeting is not without its drama, either, as last night it appeared that America’s Horse of the Year California Chrome might miss tomorrow’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes because of a bruised foot.

The meeting kicks off today with the head-on collision between Solow, the Dubai Turf winner, and Able Friend in the Queen Anne Stakes, but it is tomorrow’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes that is the most ­cosmopolitan.

Japan’s Spielberg is a rare challenger from the country. Japanese fans will not have to stay up as late as those in Australia for Criterion, while the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville was set to be opened to broadcast the race, but will now most likely act as a base to console California Chrome’s “Chromies”.

Fans in the UAE have much to look forward to as well. Solow was a deeply impressive winner of Meydan’s signature turf race, and runner-up The Grey Gatsby is also pitched in to the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.

Evergreen Sole Power finally secured just reward for his exploits at Dubai in March with his first win in the Al Quoz Sprint, and he goes for an unprecedented three in a row in today’s King’s Stand Stakes.

But it is not all just about the horses.

The two best jockeys in the world in Ryan Moore and Joao Moreira will be on display, and with Ascot’s unique showcase of pageantry, history, fashion and a good dose of royalty, the scene is set.

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