Favourites have an excellent record in the National Stakes, with five of the last ten renewals going the way of the market principle. It is little surprise, in a race that tends to attract a small but select field, that the remainder of those ten were won by horses second or third favourite in the betting.

Aidan O'Brien's Gstaad heads the market, stepping up to seven furlongs for the first time. The form of his debut win at Navan over stablemate True Love proved to be a key Royal Ascot line, with the pair winning their respective races – the Group 2 Coventry Stakes for Gstaad and the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for True Love. The colt lost nothing in defeat when a short neck second to the unbeaten Venetian Sun in the Group 1 Prix Morny subsequently, conceding 4lb to the filly.

Godolphin are represented by the undefeated Saba Desert, who made a solid start to his career when winning a 1400m maiden at Sandown. He made a smooth transition into Group company with a comfortable success in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket's July Course and his proven form over the trip makes plenty of appeal.

Zavateri, from the Eve Johnson Houghton yard, remains underestimated in the market against global powerhouses. Whilst the statistics do not favour British-trained runners – the race has been won by domestically-trained contestants over the last decade – the son of Without Parole was a surprise winner of the Group 2 July Stakes at Newmarket and proved the victory was not a fluke when following up in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. The second-placed Morris Dancer franked the form with a win in the Listed Stonehenge Stakes on his subsequent outing, giving Zavateri's book of form a level of strength and depth potentially unrivalled by the leading two in the market.