Royal Ascot: Betting Offers

Royal Ascot

The UK’s most valuable race meeting, Royal Ascot, returns from June 20th to 24th, and with over £6.5 million up for the taking, the festival is set to be jam packed with the world’s best horses and jockeys competing for a share of the prize money.

The Ascot Racecourse is located in Berkshire and was founded by Queen Anne back in 1711 and boasts some stiff fences which often means front-runners are hard to peg back.

Aside from putting on the 5 day Royal Ascot festival during the month of June, the racecourse also hosts National Hunt race meetings over the winter months.

If you're lucky enough to be in Berkshire during the festival and want to attend, head on over to Ascot's official website where you'll be able to check availability.

If you do manage to get tickets, Ascot Racecourse is located close to the M3, M4, M40 and M25 motorways with train access coming from South West Trains who run a service to Ascot from both Reading, Guildford as well as Waterloo station in London.

Day 1: Queen Anne Stakes

The first of the Group 1 races launching the festival is The Queen Anne Stakes, a 1-mile race for thoroughbred runners aged 4+, which boasts prize money of over £600,000.

This year’s favourite to win The Queen Anne Stakes is ‘Ribchester’ at most bookmakers is a 4-year-old Irish runner out of the Godolphin stables.

The Godolphin stables came very close to success in this race last year, when ‘Belardo’ secured second place, but they’ll be hoping for a better finish with ‘Ribchester’ this year.

‘Ribchester’ is trained by Richard Fahey with Toteport offering the best odds at 10/11.

‘Lightning Spear’, trained by David Simcock, has a 41.67% win rate on the flat and is another strong contender, with Ladbrokes offering the best odds at 6/1.

‘Mutakayyef’ is also expected to do well, and is offered at odds of 6/1 by Ladbrokes.

‘Deauville’, who is trained by Aidan O’Brien, and the Todd Fletcher trained ‘American Patriot’ are online bookmakers other front-runners.

William Hill offer ‘Deauville’ at 14/1, while Ladbrokes offer ‘American Patriot’ at 20/1.

Day 1: King's Stand Stakes

The second Group 1 race of the day is The King's Stand Stakes, a 5-furlong sprint that’s set to be one of the most exciting races of the day.

This year, ‘Lady Aurelia’, the 3 year old Filly trained by Wesley Ward, is the firm favourite to win, with Bet365 offering the best odds at 7/2.

‘Lady Aurelia’ won the Queen Mary Stakes last year, and most recently swept to victory at Keeneland and looks good coming into the race.

‘Marsha’, an Irish filly trained by Sir Mark Prescott and second favourite for the race, has won her last 2 outings and is offered at odds of 10/3 by SkyBet.

‘Signs of Blessing’, another Irish runner trained by Francois Rohaut is also a favourite with the bookies, with BetVictor offering the best odds at 13/2.

‘Profitable’, who won last year’s King’s Stand Stakes is a front-runner and expected to do well.

William Hill offer the best odds on ‘Profitable’ at 16/1, and it will be interesting to see if Clive Cox can win a second year running.

Day 1: St James's Palace Stakes

The final Group 1 race on the opening day of the 2017 Royal Ascot festival is the St James's Palace Stakes, a 1m Race for three-year-old colts.

Aidan O’Brien’s ‘Churchill’ is the favourite to win the final Group 1 race of the opening day.

O’Brien has had 4 winners in the last 10 years in the St James’s Palace Stakes and Churchill, who won the Chesham Stakes during last years festival, has only lost 1 race on the flat.

888sport currently offer the best odds on 'Churchill' at 4/6.

The Godolphin stables have 2 Irish runners in the top contenders to win.

‘Barney Roy’ the 3 year old Colt trained by Richard Hannon is offered at odds of 9/4 by Toteport, while ‘Thunder Snow’ is best odds at SkyBet at 10/1.

The other horse in the bookmakers top 4 is ‘Lancaster Bomber’ another Colt trained by Aidan O’Brien. Ladbrokes are offering the best odds on ‘Lancaster Bomber’ at 28/1.

Day 3: The Gold Cup

This year’s Ascot Gold Cup, a Group 1 race for horses aged 4 and over, takes place on Thursday June 22 at 4.20pm and is set to be the highlight of Royal Ascot 2017.

‘Order of St George’ who was last year’s winner of this race, is online bookmakers favourite, and unfortunately, odds are pretty short on the 5 year old trained by Aidan O’Brien.

Bet365 offer the best odds at 1/1, which aren’t great to be honest, so make sure you claim their £30 signup offer if you’re betting on the race favourite.

'Big Orange' could be another major player in the race and it's Coral that offer the best odds at 8/1. Frankie Dettori, the most successful Royal Ascot jockey still riding, is set to partner Big Orange for the race, having recovered from his shoulder injury.

Ralph Beckett’s ‘Simple Verse’ is another horse expected to do well, especially after her performance in The Yorkshire Cup. You’ll get slightly better odds on this this 5 year old, with Ladbrokes offering the best price at 9/1.

The other two runners expected to perform well in Saturdays Gold Cup at Royal Ascot are ‘Sweet Selection’ and ‘Sheikhzayedroad’.

‘Sweet Selection’ is trained by Hughie Morrison and 14/1 at William Hill, while ‘Sheikhzayedroad’, David Simcock’s trained Bay, is best price at Betfair at 14/1.