We’re all obviously thrilled with Coltrane, who won the Ascot Stakes on Tuesday. He did it really well and only lost five kilos in doing so. He ran the furthest of all of our runners on Tuesday and lost the smallest amount of weight.

Callum Hutchinson gave him an absolutely fantastic ride and I’m so pleased he’s ridden a winner on the biggest stage.

I felt Berkshire Shadow was a little unlucky in the St James’ Palace Stakes. His draw didn’t help, and he was a little slowly away, too. They went no gallop, which makes life tough for those who were held up, but he ran on down the straight. He might head to Newmarket next.

You can take nothing away from Nature Strip, who was excellent in winning the King’s Stand. King’s Lynn was drawn in the wrong part of the track as there was nothing with pace to take him into the race. Ultimately, it was disappointing, but he didn’t run badly. The horse he beat at Haydock last time finished second and that’s where I think he could have finished on a different day. However, the winner was superb, and we’d have not got in his shadow no matter how much luck we’d have had.

Thursday at Royal Ascot

BAKEEL  is a grand horse. He made his debut at Ascot and won well. He’s a big, fine strong horse who has done well since and although this is a tough race, we’re looking forward to running him (14:30).

BERKSHIRE REBEL  is high enough in the weights, but Harry’s [Davies] claim will help. He’s not the biggest, so I do worry if he’ll love the hurly-burly nature of a big field like this, but he does like fast ground, so he’s not without place claims (15:05).

SCHMILSSON  is stepping up in trip. He won well at Bath last time and is ready for this test now. It wouldn’t surprise me if he ran well (15:05).

TEUMESSIAS FOX  gives me the feeling that he wants the ground a little slower, but he ran well in defeat at Salisbury where he was beaten by a very well-handicapped horse. The extra distance should suit him and he’s not without a chance (15:05).  

HARROW  has been disappointing on his last two starts and needs to come back from that. At the start of the season, I thought he was a genuine Group horse, but his two runs this season haven’t showed that at all. He’s back into a handicap and with cheekpieces on, but he’ll need to put those two runs way behind him (17:00).

KOY KOY  was a good second at Chester, with the winner winning again in a £100k Betway-sponsored race at Chester on Saturday. I do think he’ll prefer ground with ease in, but he ran well at Ascot behind Saga on fastish ground last season (17:00).

It’s great to see that Betway will be donating all profits from the Britannia Stakes to the five chosen charities who have partnered with Royal Ascot. It’s a great industry initiative.

TACTICAL   runs for Her Majesty and it’s no secret that this has been his aim for a long while (18:10). He won at the Royal Meeting as a two-year-old and I think he’s on the right sort of mark to run a big race. Obviously, you need plenty of luck in big-field handicaps, so it’s in the lap of the gods on the day.

OO DE LALLY  runs in the same race, but he probably could have done with it a little slower underfoot. He’s rated highly enough, but the options are limited for horses in his bracket, so he’ll take his chance. He’ll likely have his day in a similar sort of race when he gets his conditions this season.

Visit Betway's horse racing betting page.