THERE will be a strong US-trained challenge in all eight Group One races at Royal Ascot next week.

The Berkshire track will once again be the focus of attention of the racing world from the opening day on Tuesday to the finish on Saturday.

Her Majesty The Queen will be in attendance on all five days for another mouthwatering display of top-quality racing.

The £600,000 Queen Anne Stakes next Tuesday could see the US challenge come from four-year-old War Front colt, American Patriot. Todd Pletcher’s horse won the G1 Maker’s 46 Mile on turf at Keeneland in April and is likely to go well again over the one mile sprint.

Three-time G1 scorer Miss Temple City could also make her third Royal Ascot appearance after finishing fourth in the G1 Coronation Stakes in 2015.

But they are certain to face strong European opposition in the form of Aidan O’Brien’s Minding, who capped a superb 2016 by taking the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October, plus last year’s QIPCO 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes hero, Galileo Gold.

The £400,000 King’s Stand Stakes is also five furlongs, boasting the last two winners, Clive Cox’s 2016 scorer Profitable and Goldream (2015).

There are three possible US-trained starters headed by Wesley Ward’s three-year-old Scat Daddy filly Lady Aurelia (Wesley Ward USA), who triumphed by a breath-taking seven lengths in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016.

Ward, with seven Royal Ascot winners since Strike The Tiger in the 2009 Windsor Castle Stakes, said: “Lady Aurelia is doing fantastic. She had a real good rest after her unfortunate defeat at Newmarket at the end of last season and ran a very exciting comeback race at Keeneland. I am excited to get back over to Royal Ascot with her. We’re leaning towards the King’s Stand Stakes, she’s most effective at five furlongs.”

Tuesday’s £400,000 St James’s Palace Stakes is headed by last season’s champion, Churchill, who won the Listed Chesham Stakes for O’Brien.

The £750,000 Prince of Wales’s Stakes next Wednesday could see a brilliant clash between several of 2016’s G1-winning three-year-olds headed by French superstar, Almanzor, victorious in four G1s last year including a QIPCO Champion Stakes victory at Ascot in October.

Minding plus Galileo Gold, Hawkbill (Charlie Appleby), Queen’s Trust (Sir Michael Stoute) and Seventh Heaven (O’Brien) are also among the entries.

O’Brien’s 2016 Gold Cup winner Order Of St George will be back to defend his crown in the £400,000 contest next Thursday. Vazirabad, (Alain de Royer-Dupre) plus the last two winners of the St Leger - Harbour Law (Laura Mongan) and Simple Verse (Ralph Beckett) - are also engaged.

O’Brien’s unbeaten Irish raider Caravaggio heads the entries for the £400,000 Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs for three-year-olds next Friday.

Lady Aurelia, Bound For Nowhere and once-raced Saratoga scorer Berks County are the three US-trained entries.

US handler Mark Casse, who struck with star mare Tepin in last year’s G1 Queen Anne Stakes, is eyeing more success in the £400,000 Coronation Stakes next Friday with La Coronel.

The Right Man (Didier Guillemin) and US challenger, Long On Value (Bill Mott USA), are on course for a rematch in the £600,000 Diamond Jubilee Stakes next Saturday. The pair were separated by a nose in the six-furlong G1 Al Quoz Sprint on turf at Meydan, UAE, on March 25.

All eight G1 Royal Ascot contests are part of the QIPCO British Champions Series, with the King’s Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes also involved in the Global Sprint Challenge.

The total prize money on offer at Royal Ascot is a staggering £6,665,000, an increase of £1m on last year.