WALDGEIST, in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, and Shaman, in the St James’s Palace Stakes, are the two best bets among the French raiding party for next week’s Royal Ascot jamboree.

Trained by André Fabre, Waldgeist put up a career-best display at the age of five and seemed to relish the drop back to a mile and a quarter when storming home almost five lengths clear in the Group 1 Prix Ganay.

Carlos Laffon-Parias’s Shaman is more of an each-way punt, but at double-figure odds he is overpriced given that he found only Persian King too strong in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and his earlier victory in the Prix La Force has worked out exceptionally well.

Similarly, Olmedo could outrun his odds in the Queen Anne Stakes and make the frame, while Inns Of Court is just preferred over City Light in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Called To The Bar is unlikely to prove a match for Stradivarius in the Gold Cup and Big Brothers Pride may have won a sub-standard Prix Sigy and could struggle in the Commonwealth Cup.