The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is not only the feature of Day Two (Wednesday, 21 June) of Royal Ascot it is being described as the race of the meeting with confident sentiments widely articulated for four of the six contenders, each boasting a brilliant middle-distance profile.

They are set to do battle over Ascot’s 2005m with winners of this historic Group 1 including Vision d’Etat who went on to land the 2009 G1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m), and 2017’s winner Highland Reel who concluded his career when triumphant in that December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m).

Highland Reel’s trainer Aidan O’Brien seeks to win the Prince of Wales’s Stakes for a fifth time with Luxembourg, who gained his third Group 1 victory from just nine starts with a dynamic front-running victory in last month’s Tattersalls Gold Cup (2100m) at The Curragh.

O’Brien says of Ryan Moore’s mount: “He led that day but you can put him anywhere in a race and he doesn’t seem to mind. He’s never run at Ascot before but it’s right-handed like The Curragh and I see no reason why he won’t take to it.”

Bay Bridge pushed Luxembourg all the way to the wire at The Curragh and Richard Kingscote’s mount is expected to provide formidable opposition again especially if the ground turns softer on Wednesday, a possibility according to weather forecasts.

His 77-year-old trainer Sir Michael Stoute’s reputation for improving horses with age remains as strong as ever, demonstrated by Bay Bridge’s career-outstanding performance when narrowly eclipsing Adayar and My Prospero – the other two obvious key players on Wednesday – in last October’s G1 Champion Stakes over the same course and distance.

Not many G1 Epsom Derby winners stay in training at five but Adayar is bucking that trend in style. As a three-year-old he was the 2021 Classic-winning hero over the 2405m of Epsom’s eccentric gradients then going on to demonstrate his Ascot credentials with victory in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2392m).

Last month’s comfortable victory in Newmarket’s G3 Gordon Richards Stakes (2000m) has inspired Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby to believe that the son of Frankel could now have the speed for Group 1 glory at this trip.

Appleby says: “Adayar did a lovely piece of work the other day, very enthusiastically dragging William (Buick) into the lead and finishing with his ears pricked. He missed this meeting last year (through injury) and hopefully the horse can get his reward for staying in training.”

Jockey Tom Marquand considers that the William Haggas-trained My Prospero is the contender with undiscovered potential and can now overcome his Champion Stakes conquerors: “The change of tempo at the bend probably caught us out a bit but we were only beaten a head and a neck. It certainly feels as though we haven’t yet had a chance to prove ourselves fully, and that is pretty exciting.”

Colour is added by the fact that Kentucky-based trainer Kenneth McPeek takes on these hot European 2000m horses with Classic Causeway, winner of the 2022 G1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (2000m) last July. He pushed the pace that day under Julien Leparoux and one can envisage similar tactics from the same jockey in search of a shock Royal Ascot victory.