Royal Ascot is one of the biggest race meetings of the year and one of the major highlights of the flat racing season. The Berkshire course plays host to eight Group 1 races and some incredibly competitive handicaps over five days. There’s plenty for punters to get their teeth stuck into and we’ve marked your card early by picking out the best bets from the pick of the action.
The Queen Anne Stakes is open to horses aged four and older but the stats show it pays to side with members of last year’s Classic generation. Four-year-olds dominate this one mile race which hasn’t had a single winner aged over five since 1976.
Punters looking to get their Royal Ascot betting off to a flying start should consider backing Aidan O’Brien’s Rhododendron at 10/1 with Bet365. That she was kept in training after failing to hit the heights expected last year is interesting and without Winter or Enable in her way, this classy filly could well get the job done.
The St James’s Palace Stakes offers another opportunity to the horses who failed to get the better of Saxon Warrior in the 2000 Guineas. Guineas favourite, Gustav Klimt, is therefore well fancied in the betting for this one mile contest but our odds comparison shows Elarqam is available at 8/1 with Paddy Power which is a price that really catches the eye.
Mark Johnston’s colt could get longer than a mile as the year progresses and will need just a small improvement and a bit of luck to reverse the 2000 Guineas form against Tip Two Win and Masar.
A Group 1 contest for horses aged four and older, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes is run over one mile, two furlongs. It’s a race that has increased in prestige over the years and is now regularly contested by horses with Group 1 wins at home and abroad.
Cracksman, winner of Group 1s at Ascot and Longchamp as a three-year-old is a very worthy favourite at 4/5 with Coral. He may not have been be tried over one mile, four furlongs this season but remains at home at this trip and is the one the others all have to beat.
The Ascot Gold Cup is as big as it gets for stayers on the flat. The two mile, four furlong trip is considerably longer than any other Group 1 in the UK or Ireland which makes this a true specialist contest.
Big Orange provided one of the most popular wins of Royal Ascot 2017 and while he’s back in the field it’s tough to imagine the seven-year-old will go in again. Stradivarius is well worth backing at 6/1 with Betfair though. The four-year-old is primed for a big season for Aidan O’Brien who has a phenomenal record in this race so snap up that price while it lasts.
Torcedor (12/1 with Ladbrokes) is another worth considering. The six-year-old has as much heart as any of his Gold Cup competitors and has already won at Ascot in 2017. There are question marks about his quality but Torcedor offers great each way appeal.
It may not look it on first viewing but there is an argument that the Coronation Stakes is almost as specialist a race as the Gold Cup. This mile long contest is open only to three-year-olds and has been won by a handful of horses who also claimed 1000 Guineas glory. Moreover, horses who have been tested over more than a mile have a horrible record in the Coronation Stakes so stick with top quality milers.
Billesdon Brook holds an entry after her shock win in the 1000 Guineas but our odds comparison shows her chances are modest at best at a general 6/1. The filly with the best chance of victory looks to be Clemmie at 7/2 with Paddy Power.
Clemmie was the long term ante post favourite for the 1000 Guineas but the race just came too soon for her after a minor setback. She should be in great shape for Royal Ascot though and loves firm ground so expect Clemmie to, rather belatedly, prove her class.
The decision to add the Diamond Jubilee Stakes to the Global Sprint Challenge has had the desire effect in terms of the calibre of those competing. International sprint stars don’t actually have a great record in this one though as previous form at Ascot has proven to be incredibly important.
Harry Angel has plenty of Ascot experience. Unfortunately for the favourite, it’s not very good experience and he may get beaten again. There are several tempting options but the 12/1 Betfred are offering on Tasleet is well worth considering.
Tasleet really came to the fore as a four-year-old and still has plenty to give. He was second in this race last year and can go even better 12 months on.
When it comes to horse racing on the flat, Royal Ascot has everything you could wish for. Dating way back to 1711 when it was inaugurated by Queen Anne, the Royal Ascot meeting has history and prestige in spades. Having kept its royal connections to this day – Queen Elizabeth and many other royals attend every year! – there is no other horse racing meeting that possesses quite the pomp and class of Royal Ascot.
The five-day meeting – which this year runs from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th June – attracts more than its fair share of celebrities and fashionistas who are there to strut their stuff alongside the great, the good… and the Queen!
Of course, most punters will be more concerned with the action on the track than the massive social and fashion-based occasion it has become, and our site will be bringing you the best live betting odds for all the races as well as betting tips and predictions to help you pick out the winners.
With a plethora of top class racing action, and a total of 300,000 fervent supporters in attendance over the course of the meeting, this is certainly a fantastic spectacle for racing aficionados and occasional punters alike. It is also the most valuable race meeting in the UK and thus attracts the best horses, trainers and jockeys from around the globe as they compete for more than £5.5 million in prize money!
There are 18 Group races to get stuck into, with eight Group One races in which you can witness some of the greatest flat racers on the planet. With the King’s Stand Stakes and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes the best races for fans of the sprints, the Queen Anne Stakes, the St James’s Palace Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes for the middle distance specialists up to the biggest race of them all, the Ascot Gold Cup, which is run over a testing distance of two miles and four furlongs.
It’s not all about the Group One races of course, and there are plenty of handicaps for those seeking some solid betting value, though making predictions for races like the Wokingham Stakes (a six furlong handicap) or the Ascot Stakes (a handicap run over the same distance as the Gold Cup) can be fraught with peril.
The best way to ensure you get good value for your bets, of course, is to make use of our live betting odds comparison tables that will give you the best prices for all the horses in any given Royal Ascot race from the best bookies in the business.
The 2017 Royal Ascot meeting promises to be as exciting as ever as the competition for winners is fierce amongst trainers and owners – and indeed us punters. The hard part for those looking to profit from this fascinating event, of course, is how to pick out the winning horses. But if you read our betting tips and predictions for the main Royal Ascot races, you’ll at least be pointed in the right direction, and you’ll always be given the best available betting odds to give you the best value whichever horses you pick.