AIDAN O’Brien has been the leading trainer at Royal Ascot on 10 occasions, including five years in a row from 2015 to 2019.

Last year, for obvious reasons, O’Brien sent a much smaller team to the Royal meeting, on the back of a stop-start preparation. The yard still had four winners – only John Gosden had more with six successes.

The omens look good for Ballydoyle next week. O’Brien has already won five European classics and 11 of his 17 two-year-old runners have already won.

Based on recent years, we can expect the yard to have between five and seven winners this week.

Tuesday

Battleground and Wembley go into the St James’s Palace Stakes off poor efforts in the Guineas but have little to find on their best two-year-old form and both are worth a small wager against Jim Bolger’s Poetic Flare.

It’s hard to see either Lope Y Fernandez or the returning Order Of Australia troubling John Gosden’s Palace Pier in the opening Queen Anne Stakes. Ballydoyle’s three Coventry Stakes contenders (Cadamosto, The Acropolis and Amalfi Coast) could be anything but this race is wide open.

Take note that Cadamosto has missed a number of engagements in search of fast ground.

Wednesday

Armory and Love give Ballydoyle a very strong hand in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. One suspects Armory will be given the nod as a win here would greatly enhance his stud value. Fast ground will suit him better than chief rival Addeybb, though last year’s winner Lord North sets a fair standard.

Yet looks the stable’s chief hope in the Queen Mary but her neck victory in a Dundalk maiden doesn’t not quicken the pulse.

O’Brien is responsible for eight of the 24 entries in the Queen’s Vase, a race he has won seven times since 2007. Stable companions Wordsworth (7/2), The Mediterranean (5/1) and Arturo Toscanini (8/1) are the first three in the betting at time of writing. You wouldn’t envy Ryan Moore’s task in picking the best of them.

Thursday

The big news yesterday was that Serpentine had been supplemented for the Gold Cup at a cost of £30,000. That was a huge show of faith in last year’s Derby winner getting the marathon trip considering he has yet to race beyond a mile and a half.

Amhran Na Bhfiann and Santiago could also run against Stradivarius in the mid-week feature.

Friday

Having supplied the winners of both 1000 Guineas at the Curragh and Newmarket (and almost won the French version too), the yard should know exactly what’s required to win the Coronation Stakes. Mother Earth looks the obvious pick but Empress Josephine is also due to be supplemented.

By only running Bolshoi Ballet at Epsom, the stable has a strong hand in the ‘Ascot Derby’ [King Edward VII Stakes) and Sir Lamorak could be one of the yard’s big hopes for the week.

A mere handicap winner on the book, he is undoubtedly much better than that and he will test Derby absentee Mohaafeth.

Prettiest, a daughter of Dubawi and Alice Springs, really impressed when making a winning debut at Navan last month and is sure to give a good account of herself in the Albany Stakes.

Saturday

Broome deserves another chance in the Hardwicke Stakes, stepping back up to a mile and a half having run four good races over 10 furlongs already this season.

Don’t miss Point Lonsdale in the opening Chesham Stakes. The son of Australia looked awesome on his Curragh debut.