Ed Chamberlin column: My six best bets for Royal Ascot

Ed Chamberlin has his six best bets for Royal Ascot, plus three others to keen an eye out for.

The Cheltenham Festival is my favourite racing week of the year but Royal Ascot is not far behind.

There is so much quality on show next week. Whereas Cheltenham is Great Britain v Ireland, the Royal meeting is a truly international affair, with horses competing from all over the globe.

Here are 'Six of the Best' for Royal Ascot:

1. The Queen Anne Stakes looks a head-to-head between French superstar, SOLOW, and the best miler ever from Hong Kong, Able Friend. Admittedly, being more familiar with Solow's form is a factor in making him such a strong fancy, but it's not the clincher, with Able Friend beating the same horses time and again. He must also prove his effectiveness away from Sha Tin, the scene of all his glory and a venue he's raced at exclusively since his third start - so, in each of his last 16!

At the age of five, Solow has been a slow burner, but Freddy Head rates him as one of the best he's trained, in a list that includes Goldikova, and he is shaping up to be the real deal. If there was give in the ground (unlikely), he'd be odds on, and faster ground definitely helps the price and brings Able Friend into the reckoning. If the race turns tactical, I like Solow's ability to race handily, he can even make the running, and if he is on the pace two furlongs from home, it's going to take a monster effort from Able Friend to get to him, and then past him. First day, first race, banker!

The key to finding the winner of the Ascot Stakes is to stick with the jumps boys - they have won eight of the last ten renewals.

2. The key to finding the winner of the Ascot Stakes is to stick with the jumps boys - they have won eight of the last ten renewals. Such a strong stat suggests you need endless stamina to win this race, not to mention a degree of guts. Nicky Henderson won it with a mare, Veiled, in 2007 and I fancy him to repeat the dose with another member of the fairer sex, BROXBOURNE, who was running well over jumps this spring and can go close off her rating of 90. Jamie Spencer has been booked for the ride, which I view as a positive, as the pace is sure to be strong and he is adept at picking up the pieces when the pace falls apart. At 20-1, I make her solid each-way material.

3. I like two shorties on Day Two and I want to mix things up a bit by putting them in a double. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained, INTEGRAL, can be backed at around 5-4 to win the Duke Of Cambridge - a race she won so easily last year - and I reckon that's fair value in a race lacking any serious depth. She needed a run to put her straight for this twelve months ago and her staying on fourth in the Lockinge hinted at more of the same last month. She'll strip fitter, here, and really ought to win. KING OF ROOKS, will be too skinny for some at 11-10, but he has all the qualities needed to turn the Norfolk Stakes into a procession and he will do for me in the second leg of the double. The form of his National Stakes romp has been given a huge boost by the runner-up, Buratino, and Al Shaqab, who have just paid a fortune for the horse, have invested in a proper one, I reckon.

4. Royal Hunt Cup is famed as one of those races punters love to hate. Loads of runners, trouble in-running and everything trying for its life, it's a recipe to do your dough. But I love it and will be backing Sir Michael Stoute's MUNAASER like it's 1-5 in a two-horse race. Forgive him a rubbish effort behind Spark Plug under Paul Hanagan on his seasonal debut at Newbury last month. He hung badly right-handed that day, so much so, Hanagan struggled for control and that was clearly not his running. If he's on his game, like he was when hosing up at Newmarket last summer in a lesser race, he will give his backers plenty to shout about. Yes, there is a level of risk involved with this one, there always is in a two-horse race!

5. I was disappointed with Limato at Haydock last time and having had him down as one of my Royal Ascot bankers, I'm dumping him in favour of the Wesley Ward-trained, HOOTENANNY. An impressive winner of the Windsor Castle stakes last year, he proved himself over 6f by narrowly failing to beat an in-form, The Wow Signal, in the Group One Prix Morny. A gutsy win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf proved he's game because 1m isn't really his thing and that blend of speed and stamina over 6f will make him very hard to beat.

6. PAMONA could have won the Oaks the way the race panned out, with Qualify coming late and fast to land the booty. We'll never know, but what I do know is she looked a filly going places, when finishing fast behind Crystal Zvezda at Newbury (1m2f, good) on her reappearance. Granted a clear run at the Stoute filly, it's not beyond the realms to thinks she could have got to within a length at the line and with the promise of further improvement upped to 1m 4f, she is worth a wager in an open-looking contest. Okay, Crystal Zvezda ran a smelly one in the Oaks but she raced like a quarter horse that day and punters shouldn't look to knock Pamona's chances, as a result.

Going back to the Cheltenham analogy, I can't resist getting involved in most races there and I'll be doing something similar at Royal Ascot. You've got six of my best, but it would be rude not to give you a few that are 'bubbling under'. FREE EAGLE (Prince Of Wales's Stakes). FOUND (Coronation Stakes). SUZI'S CONNOISSEUR e/w (Wokingham Stakes).