YORKSHIRE race fans are well served today with meetings at Thirsk this afternoon and Beverley this evening.

But all eyes will be on the opening card at Royal Ascot, which sees four big hopes from the north in a race which will completed in less than 60 seconds.

The Group 1 King's Stand Stakes is the target for G Force, trained at Nawton near Helmsley by David O'Meara, Mecca's Angel, the rising sprint star from Michael Dods' yard at Denton on the outskirts of Darlington, and also Hot Streak and Pearl Secret from the North Yorkshire stables of Kevin Ryan and David Barron respectively.

The quartet all have strong claims but slight preference is for MECCA'S ANGEL, who started her campaign with a fluent success in Group 3 company at Longchamp, where she startlingly smashed the track record.

This gave a clue that, now she's four years old, she may not be as dependent on softish ground as she was in the past.

A filly who has never stopped improving, Mecca's Angel – the mount of Paul Mulrennan – is marginally preferred over G Force, who has a further chance at the meeting as he also holds an entry in Saturday's Diamond Jubilee Stakes over six furlongs.

This arguably may suit him better after his Group 1 win over that distance at Haydock last season.

It is, however, a wide-open race, as you would expect for such a prestigious contest with £375,000 in prize money up for grabs.

Sole Power is bidding to win it for the third successive year, Australian raider Shamal Wind is a Group 1 winner and Paul Hanagan's mount Muthmir won at Group 2 level in France last month, so Mecca's Angel has plenty on her plate.

The Queen Anne Stakes, which opens the programme, is one of three Group 1 races on the card. Able Friend, the joint top-rated thoroughbred in the world, comes from Hong Kong and faces a stiff test against France's SOLOW, who is the choice after his wins in the Dubai Turf at Meydan and in the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp. Freddie Head's colt is awarded the nap vote.

GLENEAGLES will surely take all the beating in the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes after completing the English-Irish 2,000 Guineas double.

Aidan O'Brien's colt will, however, be tested by French 2,000 Guineas winner Make Believe and Sir Michael Stoute's highly-rated Consort.

The Group 2 Coventry Stakes is the first of the juvenile events at Royal Ascot and Jim Bolger may hold the key with ROUND TWO, who has won both his races to date at Naas in the style of a top-class recruit.

Kevin Manning again takes the mount on this speedy colt, who is held in the highest regard in the Bolger camp.

Ray Ward, who enjoyed no luck in the Ascot Stakes last season, will be a popular choice to gain compensation after an encouraging effort at Newmarket last month.

The Windsor Castle, the second two-year-old race on the card, boasts its usual massive field.

Richard Fahey has won this race in the past and the Malton trainer has each-way prospects of doing so again with LATHOM, a Beverley winner on his debut and slightly unlucky not to complete a course double in the Brian Yeardley Trophy on his only subsequent start.

He faces stiff opposition, however – not least from Aidan O'Brien's Washington DC, the mount of Ryan Moore, who has looked smart in his three runs in Ireland.

At Thirsk, Fahey has a couple of winning chances with well-drawn juvenile EARLY BIRD (2,20), who has a speedy pedigree, and EMERAHLDZ (4,45), who shaped well at York last time.

Mick Easterby, in such fine form, also has a couple of winning chances with OLD MAN CLEGG (2,55) and evergreen veteran ANCIENT CROSS (3.30), who has shown up well on more than one occasion this season.