Nico de Boinville: “I like to think we have another reasonable shout with Birchdale”

The UK’s big flat race meeting of the season begins today at Royal Ascot with five days of fabulous fun and frivolity at the Berkshire course for thousands of racegoers. These five days have long been in the diary of every trainer, owner and jockey who have had dreams of landing one, or more, of … Ed Nicholson: “She is officially the highest rated horse in the race already – and she will get even better.”

AYR 1:45 Califet En Vol (James Bowen) At the time of writing, he is also running on today but we’ve backed horses up before like this and he is a very uncomplicated person, so I feel he will handle two quick runs, but of course he’ll be fully checked over and if he’s still feeling … Nicky Henderson: “This is a very suitable race due to the fact it’s for horses that have won just one race and I expect him to go quite nicely.”

SATURDAY AINTREE 1:20 H’Cap Hurdle BOLD ENDEAVOUR (JAMES BOWEN) He ran very well in the Pertemps at Cheltenham after coming down to a competitive rating and he appears to have come out of it in good shape.  He hasn’t won for a while, but is Mr Consistent and competes off the same mark as last … Nicky Henderson: “His record at Aintree is good and if he can bounce back, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him go close.”