Ryan Moore will be praying he has finally made the right call when classic-winning stablemates Precise and True Love lock horns for the third time this season in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.

Precise was all the rage for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket following an excellent juvenile campaign that included two Group 1 victories, so it is was no surprise that Ballydoyle’s number one rider sided with her on the Rowley Mile.

But following an interrupted preparation, Aidan O’Brien’s Starspangledbanner filly could finish only seventh in the first fillies’ classic of the season while her race-fit stablemate True Love emerged victorious in the hands of Wayne Lordan.

Moore switched allegiances for the Irish Guineas, with Lordan again the beneficiary as Precise raised her game to run out an emphatic winner, with True Love beaten two and a half a lengths.

Round three of the trilogy takes place on the penultimate day of the Royal meeting and Moore has switched back, with Precise odds-on to confirm her superiority over the Lordan-ridden True Love.

“I’m not sure which one is the best of them, but they’re both high-class,” Moore told World Pool.

“They’re both Group 1-winning two-year-olds and obviously both Guineas winners now. True Love won at the Royal meeting as a two-year-old and she’s very fast, winning the Queen Mary. Precise won the Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Fillies’ Mile and the mile seems to suit her well.

“They both have outstanding chances.”

Donnacha O’Brien saddled Porta Fortuna to win this race in 2024 and is this year represented by Balantina, who makes her long awaited return having been off the track since winning at the Breeders’ Cup last November.

O’Brien admitted the filly will improve for the run, but is expecting her to give a good account of herself.

“It is her first run of the year and she will definitely come forward for it but she is ready to start and her work has been nice. We are happy with her. It is a nice track and trip so we are happy to let her go,” he said.

The pick of the home team could be the Owen Burrows-trained Touleen, who was sixth in the Guineas at Newmarket and has been kept fresh for Ascot since.

“She ran well in the Guineas. She’s got four and a half lengths to find, but I think she has taken a step forward, she looks great and I think Ascot will suit her much better than Newmarket,” said the Lambourn handler.

“I’m not saying we will go there and win, but we will run a big race.”

Paddy Twomey fits his Irish Guineas fourth Black Caviar Gold with a visor for the first time, while Charlie Johnston runs Timeforshowcasing, who was down the field in the Newmarket Guineas by has since landed the German equivalent.

Moon Target (Sir Mark Prescott), Sukanya (Jack Channon) and Rose Ghaiyyath (Richard Hughes) also feature.

Commonwealth Cup

Karl Burke is confident Venetian Sun can follow in the hoofprints of Quiet Reflection in Friday's Commonwealth Cup.

Burke enjoyed a fruitful three-year-old campaign with Quiet Reflection in 2016 as she won the Group 3 Prix Sigy in France and the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock before delivering the Spigot Lodge handler with his first Royal Ascot winner in this Group 1 contest.

She would later added a second top-level prize to her tally in the Sprint Cup at Haydock that September and was later sold and retired from broodmare duties, going on to produce a multiple Group 1 winner in Aidan O’Brien’s Lake Victoria.

Burke had classic aspirations for Venetian Sun at the start of the year, but with her stamina limitations exposed in the 1000 Guineas, she successfully dropped back to six furlongs in the Sandy Lane and will be a hot favourite to follow up on the penultimate afternoon of the Royal meeting.

“She’s a very good filly. I didn’t think she was guaranteed to stay the mile, I thought she had a chance because she was so relaxed and so laid-back, but it didn’t quite work out,” said Burke.

“Dropping back to six furlongs she put up a stunning performance at Haydock and she’s come out of it really well.

“Quiet Reflection won two Group 1 sprints as a three-year-old and I don’t see any reason why Venetian Sun can’t do the same.”

The William Haggas-trained Division was three lengths adrift of Venetian Sun at Haydock and connections hope the stiffer nature of the Ascot track can help him close the gap.

Richard Brown, racing adviser to owners Wathnan Racing, said: “I think he’s a real sleeper and has a big chance. He’s got a bit to do to turn it around with Karl’s filly, but we have a lot of faith in him and think he’s very talented.

“I’m sure he’s going to run a massive race – whether he can turn the form around with Venetian Sun, I don’t really know, but that’s the great thing about racing.

“I think Ascot will suit him and he ran exceptionally well there on trials day. He was doing all his best work late and I think he’ll run better than his odds.”

Aidan O’Brien saddles the much-vaunted Albert Einstein, as well as Charles Darwin and Brussels, while his son Donnacha has a major contender in the form of Lacken Stakes winner Havana Anna.

The daughter of Havana Grey ran out a narrow winner of the Group 3 at Naas and O’Brien said everything has gone smoothly since.

“Havana Anna is in good form and everything has gone according to plan so I think she goes there with a live chance,” said the trainer.

Clive Cox has high hopes for Royal Ascot Trials Day winner Coppull and his stablemate Song Of The Clyde, who beat Albert Einstein by a neck in last month’s Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury.

Other contenders include Wesley Ward’s American raider Outfielder and Francis-Henri Graffard’s French challenger Samangan, who is expected to raise his game after a couple of below-par efforts so far this year.

Nemone Routh, manager for the Aga Khan Studs in France, said: “He’s disappointed us slightly in his first two runs this year. We think he was a bit under the weather first time out – there was a very mild virus going through the yard and I think he was slightly affected it by it – and then last time out he was just coming back to hand and didn’t really like the soft ground.

“He was ridden really positively that day as well, which he hasn’t really been before, so I think the two combined explains why he didn’t run his race.

“He’s been working very well at home – much better than he was earlier in the year – which is why we’re bringing him to this race.

“Obviously he’s got to take a big step forward on what he’s done this year and we’d be more hopeful than confident with him, but he’s going to get his ground and he’s shown us in the morning that he’s going the right way.”

King Edward VII Stakes

Later on the card Water To Wine puts his unbeaten record and tall reputation on the line in the King Edward VII Stakes.

John and Thady Gosden’s colt made a big splash on his Newbury debut in April and was due to test his Derby credentials against Epsom favourite Benvenuto Cellini in last month’s Chester Vase, before a spiked temperature scuppered his participation.

Water To Wine ultimately missed the premier classic at Epsom, but having since demolished his rivals in a low-key novice event on the all-weather at Kempton he belatedly gets the chance to test his powers in a Group 2 contest colloquially known as the ‘Ascot Derby’.

Tom Goff, racing and bloodstock adviser to owner George Strawbridge, said: “He’s a very short price for a horse that’s won a maiden and a novice, but it will be very exciting to see him back in action.

“He’s a beautiful horse who has always been held in high regard, but this is a different level of horse than he’s run against before.

“This was always the race the trainers highlighted, it was even mentioned after he won at Newbury. But then of course we did look at the Chester Vase and he had a Derby entry, but this was always the race that John mentioned as the likely target and the race at Kempton will hopefully have brought him on.

“It’s a big step up – you’re running against a horse that won the Gallinule Stakes (Causeway), so this isn’t a Mickey Mouse field and it’s going to be very competitive, I’ve no doubt.

“This horse is very much a long-term project, but of course we’re all very excited about Friday.”

Aidan O’Brien considered running Benvenuto Cellini in the King Edward after he was controversially declared a non-runner having finished down the field in the Derby, but he instead relies on Causeway, who steps up in distance and class having won each of his three starts so far this season.

Charlie Johnston’s Derby eighth Ancient Egypt should be more comfortable on this quicker surface, while Karl Burke is looking forward to saddling Golden Story, who was third behind O’Brien’s French Derby winner Constitution River in Chester’s Dee Stakes before edging a thrilling Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood.

“He’ll go the mile and a half and he’s a horse with a big future I think,” said the Spigot Lodge Handler.

“He will step up after Ascot and he could turn into a St Leger horse, certainly I think he’ll stay that sort of trip.

“I think a step up to a mile and a half around Ascot will be perfect for him.”

Echo Of Stars (Oliver Cole) and Venetian Prince (Andrew Balding) complete the six-strong field.

Albany Stakes

Karl Burke also has a leading contender for the curtain-raising Albany Stakes in the form of Wathnan Racing’s €625,000 breeze-up purchase Light Of Dawn.

The Showcasing filly lived up to the billing on her Carlisle debut and while that was only 11 days ago, Burke is unconcerned about the quick turnaround.

He said: “She came in very late because Wathnan like to give their breeze-up horses a couple of easy weeks afterwards and when she went to the pre-trainer and they got her going she had a little issue, so she was held back for a week and consequently came into us very late.

“Carlisle was the first day she could run for us because of the 14-day rule, so that caught us out a little bit. We would have liked to have run her before that so we went there using it as a piece of work as much as anything.

“She’s a big, raw filly who will learn an awful lot from the other day and enjoyed it as well. She’s bounced out of it really, I’m very happy with her.”

O’Brien’s Curragh winner Sun Goddess, Kevin Philippart De Foy’s impressive Yarmouth scorer Silent Beauty and George Boughey’s Leicester victor Libertango are all prominent in the market, while connections of Jolivette – a debut winner at Newmarket for Andrew Balding – feel she could outrun her double-figure odds.

Barry Mahon, racing manager for owner-breeders Juddmonte, said: “We got her out at Newmarket with an idea that this was where we wanted to go with her and everything went well.

“She duly won the first day, which was great, and she’s a very, very well-bred filly and a beautiful looking filly.

“I think at a big price she could run a good race.”