Hanson's Spot Plays for Day 1 at Royal Ascot

Five days of top-class racing await racing fans worldwide this week as Royal Ascot kicks off Tuesday morning with a first post of 9:30 a.m. (EDT). There's good news and bad news for American-based Royal Ascot punters this year. The good news is that the Win and Place pools for most races will see a huge influx of cash with more money co-mingled from jurisdictions throughout the world, including Hong Kong. The bad news is that, after just a one-year trial, there will be no Pick 4 available on any of the five days of the fixture. The lack of any multi-race wagers on an event this intriguing and significant is highly unfortunate, and denies bettors who prefer wagers of that kind a chance to make a huge score on a series of races where contention typically runs deep, thus requiring both clever handicapping and ticket creation. The hope is any multi-race offerings will be considered and made available in the future, not just for Royal Ascot but for all British and Irish racing offered to U.S. bettors. Here's a look at some of our action plays on Tuesday's features. FREE Brisnet Past Performances for Royal Ascot are available here. Race 1 -- Queen Anne (G1) Gelded after proving sub-fertile at stud, #2 BARNEY ROY (5-1) was a close second to subsequent Diomed (G3) winner Zaaki in the course-and-distance Paradise Stakes on May 1 in his first since October 2017. Three weeks later, he shipped to France to capture a Listed event at Longchamp over soft ground. While true that neither race was up to the standard he displayed two seasons ago when he captured the St James's Palace (G1) at this meet with placings in the 2000 Guineas (G1) and Eclipse (G1), the competitive spirit is obviously still there, he remains open to further improvement, and frankly might not need to find much more to be in the mix. Aside from a poor run in boggy conditions in the 2017 Champion (G1) over a distance already proven beyond his reach, he's never run a bad one. Few of the others have been as consistent, especially at such a high level. An intriguing longshot for the exotics is a fellow Godolphin-owned and Charlie Appleby-trained sort. #10 MYTHICAL MAGIC (30-1) is seemingly more capable than what he showed in the May 18 Lockinge (G1) following a three-month spell. Peaked two back with a three-length victory in the Zabeel Mile (G2) at Meydan, and he's still young enough to build on that performance. He's also two-for-two over the Ascot straight dating back to the beginning of his career. Read Kellie Reilly's Tuesday analysis here. Race 2 -- Coventry (G1) #1 ARIZONA (5-2) and #16 THREAT (7-2) figure to rule the market in this field of 17 juveniles, and we'll side with the latter at a slightly better price. Though he only beat three rivals in his Newmarket debut on Guineas weekend, Threat did it impressively enough without showing much in the way of greenness and with signs that a sixth furlong would be the least of his concerns. From the family of Group 1 performers Shiva, Night Shift, and Ulysses, he appears to have a bright future. Looking for a price to include in the vertical exotics? #9 LORD OF THE LODGE (20-1) won well enough on debut at Ayr in a maiden that produced 2014 Coventry winner The Wow Signal. #6 KING OF ATHENS (20-1) was eight lengths second to fellow Aidan O'Brien trainee Arizona at The Curragh last time and undoubtedly wants to go farther than this. From a pedigree perspective, any residual give in the ground might help this son of Fillies' Mile (G1) heroine Together Forever. Race 3 -- King's Stand (G1) He won't offer the price he did last year, but #2 BLUE POINT (3-1) again figures to take less money than #1 BATTAASH (2-1) in this rematch of the pair, who ran one-two in this event 12 months ago. Blue Point wore down the free-running Battaash to score by 1 3/4 lengths in the 2018 King's Stand, thus giving him three wins in four career tries over the Ascot course. He failed to reproduce that form in two subsequent starts in 2018, but out-finished Battaash again in the Nunthorpe (G1) and went three-for-three in Dubai over the winter. He tends to fire fresh. Race 4 -- St James's Palace (G1) #5 PHOENIX OF SPAIN (8-5) and #10 TOO DARN HOT (5-2) meet for a third time with each owning a victory against the other. Phoenix of Spain got the better of it more recently in an impressive tally in the Irish 2000 Guineas (G1), while trainer John Gosden has called Too Darn Hot the "worst-managed horse" after he rushed the juvenile champion into the Irish Guineas less than two weeks after a tough season-opener in the 1 5/16-mile Dante (G3), all of which occurred after he missed his intended target of the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket following a setback. Phoenix of Spain might just be the better of the two at the moment, but neither offer much intrigue in the Win pool. Though he hasn't faced a field of this caliber yet, #4 KING OF COMEDY (5-1) is a progressive-looking second stringer from Gosden who's won three of four, most recently a 2 1/2-length decision in the Heron Stakes at Sandown, the same prep used by Gosden's 2018 St James's Palace winner Without Parole. King of Comedy, who won on debut at Sandown a month before Too Darn Hot, is by the 2014 winner of this race, Kingman, and is a half-brother to French Oaks (G1) winner Star of Seville.   Watch and wager on all Royal Ascot races at TwinSpires.com. Daily television coverage is also available on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) or NBC. More analysis is available on the Royal Ascot news and notes page. Photo courtesy of ascot.co.uk