Thriving Charyn fancied for a long-awaited first Group 1 win in Royal Ascot’s traditional opener

Roger Varian believes he has Charyn in the form of his life for Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes, the one-mile Group 1 which is the first of eight QIPCO British Champions Series races at another star-studded Royal Ascot.

The Queen Anne has attracted its usual high-class field and there is a strong French challenge headed by Big Rock, the six-length winner of last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on QIPCO British Champions Day, and Facteur Cheval who was second there and also in the Sussex Stakes.

In the circumstances Charyn might seem vulnerable, having been beaten in all his six Group 1s, but he has improved this year and was better than ever in last month’s Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes, so hopes are high in the Varian camp.

The grey could never quite get to grips with outsider Audience, but the winner enjoyed a ‘solo’ up the middle of the track and Charyn kept on strongly to finish a widening six and a half lengths clear of third-placed Witch Hunter and the rest. Hi Royal, Big Rock, Poker Face, Royal Scotsman and Flight Plan were all further back, not to mention the classy Inspiral, a one-time favourite for this race who runs instead on Wednesday. 

Varian could not be happier with Charyn. He said: “He is very complete now. He’s a big, strong horse and very uncomplicated. You could say that at Doncaster and Sandown he didn’t perform any better than he had done at his peak as a three-year-old, when he was bumping into Paddington fairly regularly, but I think his Lockinge run tells you he’s a better horse this year.

I don’t think he could be any better. He’s thriving at the moment

“I don’t want to take anything away from Audience, who is a good horse in his own right, but he raced on his own and Charyn destroyed the others, which included some jolly nice ones. For me that was a career best and marked him out as a genuine Group 1 horse. 

“I don’t think he could be any better. He’s thriving at the moment. His condition since the Lockinge has been good and his work in the last fortnight has been very on point. It will be slightly different ground by the look of it and there are some nice French horses he hasn’t seen before but I couldn’t be more pleased with him.”

Big Rock hoping for another Ascot demolition

Big Rock is a powerful front runner and his Queen Elizabeth II romp was last year’s single best performance over a mile. He has plenty of other high-class form too and he will have Christophe Soumillon’s assistance for the first time, but he would prefer softer ground and needs to step up considerably on his Lockinge form, when he was making his debut for a new stable. In the circumstances Facteur Cheval, who picked up a huge pot when landing the Dubai Turf in March, might be a bigger danger.

Marseille trainer Jerome Reynier said: “Facteur Cheval came back from Dubai in really good shape. He knows Ascot’s straight mile, having run so well there behind Big Rock in October, and although the ground conditions probably won’t be the same we saw him doing really well on good ground in Dubai, and that form is amazing. He’s ticking many boxes and can go to Royal Ascot with many hopes.”

Reynier, who hopes that Audience will provide the pace that Facteur Cheval needs, added that he is “an amazing athlete who has done everything”, and that “to win at Royal Ascot would just be unreal.” 

The Francis Graffard-trained Dolayli, owned and bred by the Aga Khan, is a third French challenger for a race France last took with Solow in 2015. He has a great strike rate and was only run out of it very late when fourth in Longchamp’s Prix d’Ispahan last time, when Brave Emperor was three places behind.

Maljoom ison a redemption mission really, but he’s a very good horse.

Docklands won the Britannia Handicap here 12 months ago and loves the track. He had Maljoom behind in third when runner-up in the Queen Anne Trial over course and distance in May, but Maljoom has superior past form and was possibly the unluckiest runner of the week when a close fourth in the St James’s Palace Stakes two years ago. He has raced only twice since, but Tom Marquand believes he has it in him still to be a force in this company.

Marquand said: “Maljoom is on a redemption mission really, but he’s a very good horse. It’s hard to know if he’s ever going to get back to that level of two years ago, but I think it’s more of a mental thing, as it’s hard to be off as long as he was.

“He looks fantastic and it’s a perfect scenario for him. Inspiral’s switch to the Prince Of Wales’s opens it out a touch and he’s one I’m really looking forward to. We know he’s had it in him, and it’s a race we get the odd shock in, as we’ve seen with winners like Accidental Agent and Triple Time.”

A field of 14 is completed by Alice Haynes’ new recruit Cairo, formerly with Aidan O’Brien and a Listed second at Leopardstown on his first start for the stable.