Royal Ascot Day Two (Wednesday) - The Battle Continues

2.30pm

Five furlongs for fillies to start our second day at Royal Ascot and (surprise surprise), a contest won by Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore last season with True Love who is turning into a star. She was favourite that day but only the second to head the market and win this since 2016, so don’t count your chickens too quickly if you are on the jolly, with other winners returning at 25/1, 22/1, and 18/1! Karl Burke has won it twice in 2022 and 2024 and he runs Wild Blossom (James Doyle) and Love A Giggle (Clifford Lee), both unbeaten and ones to consider – but as eight arrive with an unblemished record and a further nine won last time out we cannot be sure that counts for anything! As well as the usual suspects from the UK we also have Victorious, Velozee, Your Song, and Armor Supreme from Ireland, Drazinda from France, and Celtic Dispute, More Champagne, Ruiva, and Shining Moment from the USA, for a truly international field. I really am clutching at straws trying to compare form from one continent to another, but decisions have to be made and with very little confidence I give you Wesley Ward’s Ruiva as my each way option. A winner on her one start at Churchill Downs on dirt, by seven lengths after making all, if she can break smartly from the 16 stall, she could lead them all a merry dance, with Wild Blossom another I seriously considered at a double figure price.    

3.05pm

From a sprint in the opener to a mile and three quarters for the Queen’s Vase for three-year-olds, with the usual balance of pure form versus those with the potential to do more stepping up in trip. At the risk of getting repetitive, Aidan O’Brien has won four of the last 10 runnings (three ridden by Ryan Moore) and he sends Port Of Spain this year, though he will need to improve for the step up in trip after finishing fifth in a Class Two handicap over four furlongs shorter on his return, and his price may be based on his stable record more than his form. Early favourite Galiyan did stay on well at Chester to take his maiden over a mile and a half plus and has to enter calculations, but he hasn’t achieved the level I would want to see for a horse at 9/4 or thereabouts, and Ravenspire looks the better each way value. Karl Burke’s son of Sea The Stars arrives unbeaten after two starts, the first at Southwell by two lengths and the second at Haydock by three, running on over the mile and a half on each occasion. His pedigree suggests he should stay, and his form is as good as anything in this field, and at his current price he could yet be an each way steal.

3.40pm

For a Group Two over the round mile the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes for fillies and mares this looks super competitive as you would want at a meeting of this magnitude. The Gosdens have won the last two and this year they run Friendly Soul, who returned after over 18 months off at Haydock last month where she was going as well as any before stepping in a hole on the track and being pulled up by Oisin Murphy. Assuming she didn’t injure herself, she looked as good as ever up to that point, and don’t forget she won the Group One Prix de l’Opera in 2024 and is proven at this level and beyond making her the one I will be backing in this field despite the top-class opposition and the drop back to a mile. Blue Bolt heads the market after winning the Listed Conqueror Stakes at Goodwood in her prep-race and she can go well, alongside Falakeyah who those looking for a bigger price, but my selection has been there done that and got the t-shirt, with the trip a bigger problem in my book to any of her opponents.

4.20pm

Many are claiming in advance that the Group One Prince Of Wales’s Stakes over ten furlongs could be the race of the meeting and one look at the lineup makes it hard to disagree with that statement. Not too many races I can remember include an Epsom Irish and Yorkshire Oaks winner (Minnie Hawk), and the Dubai Turf, Juddmonte International Stakes and last year’s winner (Ombudsman), and I haven’t even mentioned the early favourite and 2025 Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz yet! Since I started prepping this the two at the top of the market have flip-flopped with Ombudsman now the more popular, which I suspect is down to the quicker ground now predicted for Wednesday afternoon, and it’s a difficult choice and one I will now shirk! At 11/8 and 6/4 it may be more profitable to take a small each way risk on Minnie Hawk, who was below par at the Curragh when ninth in the Gold Cup, though she did finish slightly lame and had excuses. A fast run race would be a bonus as she stays further unlike some, but at 11/1 a place will do for me, with the third spot seemingly up for grabs.

5.00pm

The Royal Hunt Cup over the straight mile is always a huge betting contest, but if you think it’s easy to solve feel free to tell me how? I won’t simply rely on the stats but it may yet prove relevant that in the last 15 years we have not seen a winner from stalls one to three, and only the one winner over the age of six – not much, but it’s a start! All were officially rated between 93 and 105 and none had raced more three times this season and using those alone we can (theoretically) put a line though 14 of the declared runners, including the reserves. If you fancy a silly bet I don’t think Swing Vote should be a 100/1 chance having won three races at Jebel Ali including a Group Three and a mark of 99 may underestimate his true abilities on his third start after missing the whole of 2025 and with Silvestre De Sousa in the saddle, but a more realistic bet may be the 16/1 about Fifth Column. Trained in Newmarket by John and Thady Gosden, who won this in 2007 and 2015 and have had four more placed runners, the Godolphin owned gelding has won four of his 14 starts and looked to be coming back to his peak when second to Erzindjan in a decent race at Newmarket when headed close home to be beaten half-a-length. Willam Buick rides which is never a bad thing, and at 16/1 here we go with another each way selection.  

5.35pm

A second mile handicap in a row but this time restricted to fillies, and with only five runnings no need to bore you with the stats. As I write they are betting 5/1 the field which suggests another tightly forced contest so I suggest what we are looking for is a horse on an upward curve, and possibly a small step ahead of the handicapper. Alobayyah heads the early markets for William Haggas after finishing third here off 1lb less on her seasonal return and she should improve for that start, while stable companion Rhapsody has her first run of the year with Cieren Fallon in the saddle and dropping back to handicap company from Listed class she could surprise a few. Gaga Girl is the one that intrigues me the most, with Gerald Mosse sending her over from his Chantilly base. A daughter of The Grey Gatsby, she won at Compiegne in April and followed that with a second to Anakova in a Listed race at Longchamp, and with the excellent Christophe Soumillon riding I can see her challenging for a top-four finish if she handles the quicker ground as seems likely. Cheshire Dancer won a Group Three here last July and is one for those who like a huge price with Hugo Palmer’s filly currently trading a 50/1 chance.   

6.10pm

We end the Wednesday Royal Ascot card with the Listed Windsor Castle stakes over six furlongs, and yet another race where I have to mention Aidan O’Brien, who won this in 2019 and 2022, and the only trainer represented this season to have won it more than once in the last 10 runnings. The bookmakers seem convinced this will go over the sea to Ireland with the first three in the betting (and five of the first six), and having thrown up some big priced options in other races, I’ll stick with something a fraction more sensible here. Sergei Diaghilev heads the betting for our mate Aidan with Ryan Moore riding, but although he won on debut he didn’t really impress and will need to take a big step forward – which he might well do to be fair. Oisin Murphy rode Andrew Balding’s Moonrise to victory on her debut at Kempton, a rare first time out winner for the yard, and we can be sure she will improve, which makes me wonder why he now rides Sale Shark for Hugo Palmer? Yet another once raced (there are 12 of them in total), the son of Bayside Bay really impressed when sent for a Hamilton maiden where he was brought to challenge at the furlong pole before going clear for a two and three-quarter length success. He was well supported in the market that day so connections clearly knew they had a decent sort on their hands, and although I acknowledge he needs to build on that to win here, who is to say that will not be the case?

Sean’s Suggestion:

Friendly Soul each way 3.40pm Royal Ascot