Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Preview: Gstaad Is The Value Against Talk Of New York

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is the mile Group 1 on Champions Day at Ascot and it looks a wide-open race. Eleven runners go to post at 3.20pm for a prize of £1.1 million, with the ground good.

Talk Of New York heads the market at around 11/4, but I think there is a much better price on the card in the shape of an Aidan O'Brien colt who is the top-rated horse in the race.

The market has Talk Of New York as the one to beat and it is easy to see why. Charlie Appleby's three-year-old was supplemented for £70,000 on Monday and he comes here on the back of an impressive four-and-a-half-length win in the Joel Stakes at Newmarket. He is rated 120 and the form figures read 311321, so he is clearly improving. But 11/4 does not leave me any value in a race this strong.

Rayif is next at around 5/1 and he is a very interesting contender. Francis-Henri Graffard's colt has won the French 2,000 Guineas and the Prix Jacques le Marois, and he is also rated 120. He is a proper miler, but I would rather take a bigger price.

GSTAAD is my selection at 10/1. Ryan Moore's mount is rated 125, which is the highest official rating in the race and 5lb clear of the market leader. He won the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh and has finished in the first three in all five of his starts this year.

He has not won since the Guineas, but he has been placed in each of his last three starts. He was switched from the Champion Stakes to this race, which looks the right move over a mile on good ground. A horse who has been that consistent in Group 1 company is a very big price at 10/1 to my eye.

Of the rest, Ten Bob Tony is the one I would worry about. Ed Walker's five-year-old won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot at 50/1 and is rated 121. He is 10/1, and has run well since, so I would be surprised if he is out of the first four.

Zavateri is 8/1 and Zeus Olympios and More Thunder are both 10/1. Zeus Olympios and More Thunder have both been consistent this season, and both are rated 119, but I find it hard to make a case that any of them is a winner at this level.

I am happy to take 10/1 about GSTAAD to win. With eleven runners and the market wide open behind the favourite, I think the Ballydoyle colt looks the value.