ASCOT, England, June 16 (Reuters) - Bow Echo leads British hopes on the opening day of Royal Ascot as a fresh crop of young trainers look to challenge a dominant old guard at the world's most prestigiousflat racing festival.
This week, horses from Japan, Australia and Britain will compete over five days of racing for a share of the record £10.65 million pounds ($14.29 million) in prize money with royalty, celebrities and some 290,000 members of the public expected to attend.
The most successful flat trainer of modern times, Aidan O'Brien is on track for a century of Royal Ascot winners and sends a smart squad to Berkshire but emerging talent from Newmarket could snatch some of the week's biggest prizes.
Chief among the challengers is George Boughey's Classic winner Bow Echo, who is looking to cement his Guineas form over the O'Brien trained Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Gstaad in Tuesday's feature, the £700,000 St James’ Palace Stakes.
Bow Echo starts 4/5 favourite over the round mile with a confident Boughey saying the horse's “best days are ahead of him” after a racecourse gallop last week.
A win would land Boughey his fourth Royal Ascot winner.
"We've been lucky enough to have three winners so far, and there's no feeling like it," he said. "I think for the owners it's a massive thing ... we work a year around the meeting, and to have a bunch of horses in good form, headlined by Bow Echo, is incredibly exciting."
Another young Newmarket trainer in with a big race chance is George Scott, who sends the Group 1 winning Caballo De Mar to contend Thursday's Gold Cup, a gruelling stamina test stretching two miles and four furlongs.
Ascot's oldest race may be idiosyncratic in the modern era but it is loved by many and its roll of honour lists some of the greats including Yeats, who won an unprecedented four Gold Cups.
Race specialist O'Brien has wonnine times and is likely to send hot favourite Scandinavia to take on Caballo De Mar and last year's winner Trawlerman, trained by John and Thady Gosden.
This year will see eight nations represented with Australian sprinter Overpass a fancied runner on day one, while mare Joliestar heads the betting for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on Saturday.
Sprinter Satono Reve is bidding to become the first Japanese-trained horse to win at Royal Ascot after narrowly missing out last year.
There are also hopes for a first royal winner since Tactical in 2020, with Reaching High a fancied favourite for the King and Queen in the Ascot Stakes on Tuesday.
($1 = 0.7454 pounds)
(Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
