Royal Ascot Day 4 Tips: Owen’s picks for every race on Friday

Three down, two to go. Royal Ascot continues on Friday with another seven-race card featuring a couple of Group 1s - namely the Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes.

I've gone through the card with a selection for each and every one. Here's my Royal Ascot Day 4 tips.

14:30 - Hidden Gift each way @ 33/1

Sun Goddess is likely to take a bit of beating for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore in the Albany Stakes, but she's incredibly short for a 25-runner Group 3 over six furlongs, featuring 25 fillies open to any amount of improvement.

One of those is HIDDEN GIFT for Richard & Peter Fahey, in those ever-present colours of Wathnan Racing.

The daughter of Sioux Nation debuted at Ripon just over a fortnight ago and was narrowly denied by a £145k Simon & Ed Crisford colt who goes in the Norfolk Stakes on Saturday.

Hidden Gift was easily the one to take out of the race, however. She started slowly and looked very, very green in rear throughout the opening stages of the race. Once push came to shove, she was delivered out wide and made rapid headway, denied by just half a length in the end.

The £150k breeze-up buy, described by one of her trainers as "a filly that takes a bit of organising" prior to that run in North Yorkshire, ought to take a massive step forward as she goes up in trip on Friday - and at the prices with 4 places on offer, I'm keen to take a chance on her each way.

15:05 - Venetian Sun @ 6/4

I can't see past VENETIAN SUN in the Commonwealth Cup.

Karl Burke's daughter of Starman was a top-class juvenile over sprint trips, but she was tried in the Betfred 1000 Guineas on this season's reappearance.

That didn't go to plan and she was dropped back to a more-suitable six furlongs in the Sandy Lane at Haydock last month, bolting up by three lengths from the reopposing Division under a hands-and-heels ride from Clifford Lee.

It's comfortably the best form on offer in this field of 22 and if in the same form, she'll take the world of beating in what doesn't look a vintage renewal of this 6f Group 1.

15:40 - Hopewell Rock @ 9/2

I've got high hopes for HOPEWELL ROCK in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes - a 0-105 handicap over 1m4f.

The pick of Wathnan Racing's two (they also run Opportunity), George Boughey's four-year-old son of New Bay looks a winner in waiting off this mark.

He returned from a 175-day layoff, during which he was gelded, with a highly-encouraging third behind Daiquiri Bay and Gamrai in a Newmarket handicap last month. That form was franked, in no uncertain terms, as the pair finished 1-2 in the Copper Horse Stakes on Tuesday.

In a stable tour with AtTheRaces, Boughey admitted this race has been the plan for Hopewell Rock since November last year. Seven months in the making.

He also said his gelding was "just ready to start" at Newmarket, so improvement is expected. Plenty of it, too.

This is another I find difficult to oppose.

16:20 - Precise @ 8/13

Ryan Moore was wrong to ride PRECISE over True Love in the Betfred 1000 Guineas. He was wrong again for switching to True Love in the Irish edition. I'll be very, very surprised if it happens for a third time in the Coronation Stakes.

Aidan O'Brien's daughter of Starspangledbanner was much superior at the Curragh, and I suspect she'll continue to improve past her stablemate.

And it's a poor field otherwise, I think it's fair to say. This should be another that goes the way of favourite backers.

17:00 - Mixed Feelings each way @ 25/1

Joseph O'Brien and Dylan Browne McMonagle are enjoying a superb season, and things can get even better on Friday courtesy of MIXED FEELINGS in the Sandringham Stakes.

The three-year-old Sioux Nation filly confirmed the promise of her debut 207 days earlier by bolting up at Leopardstown in April, beating the 75-rated Bang Bang by six widening lengths.

She was a bit disappointing in the Oaks Trial at Naas next time out, but not without excuse. She met a bit of trouble in running around two furlongs out, and I'm not sure she stayed the extended 1m2f up that punishing hill.

Back to a mile, on handicap debut off an opening mark of 92, there's lots to like about her chances. Each way, with Betfred offering 6 places instead of 4.

17:35 - Causeway @ 15/8

Water To Wine could be anything, but he's hard to gauge. Was the Alderman he beat by four lengths on debut the same one that finished fifth in the Betfred Derby? Did he beat anything of note at Kempton last time out? I can actually answer that last one - no.

I'm, tentatively, going to take him on with the tried-and-tested CAUSEWAY for Aidan O'Brien.

He started this season with a victory in a seven-furlong Naas handicap off a mark of 94, before claiming Listed honours when stepped up to a mile and tried in cheekpieces at the Curragh.

The headgear was removed for a Group 3 back at the Curragh, over 1m2f, just under three weeks later, which the Wootton Bassett colt also won to take his record for the season to three-from-three.

He was unimpressive the last day and the cheekpieces are back on. That's a positive. O'Brien is confident he'll get the trip, and so am I.

Battle-hardened, let's hope it turns into a game of attrition, as Causeway's experience - and Water To Wine's lack of it - could be decisive. Fingers crossed.

18:10 - Sirius A each way @ 12/1

Ryan Moore is a very eye-catching booking on the James Horton-trained SIRIUS A in the Palace Of Holyroodhouse that closes out Friday's card.

The three-year-old son of Palace Pier beat the 103-rated Tadej, plus the reopposing Comical Point and Ten Carat Harry, on seasonal reappearance at Wolverhampton before a respectable effort in a red-hot Listed affair at Newbury last month.

Won by Commonwealth Cup hopeful Song Of The Cloud, the likes of lbert Einstein (wait for result of Commonwealth), last year's Windsor Castle hero Havana Hurricane and the 115-rated Wise Approach were in front of the selection, who wasn't disgraced in fifth of 10.

He didn't quite stay the trip to my eye, so this stiff five ought to be right up his street, and you don't need me to explain why the jockey booking is a plus. Just look what he's achieved already this week.

Sirius A can go well in a devilishly-tricky closer.