We look at some of the potential 2023 Royal Ascot bankers ahead of the best horse racing flat meeting of the season. With the fixture spread over five days, there are 35 races for punters to tuck into, but which Royal Ascot runners have the best chance of winning?
Best Horse Racing Offers for Royal Ascot
2023 Royal Ascot Bankers on Day One: Tuesday 20th June
Queen Anne Stakes: Modern Games @ 7/4 and Inspiral @ 9/4
A bit of a two-horse battle in the Queen Anne this year and if the betting is to be believed – it’s take your pick stuff. Godolphin’s globetrotting Modern Games is making his Royal Ascot debut but heads here after an impressive win in the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury (watch below), while the Queen Anne is a race the ‘boys in blue’ have won 8 times.
Inspiral will be hoping to get Frankie Dettori, who is riding at his final Royal Ascot, off to a flyer. She was the only winner at Royal Ascot last year for the Italian jockey when landing the Coronation Stakes after weaving her way through the field to power home by just under 5 lengths (watch below). She is, however, on a recovery mission after flopping as favourite in the QEII Stakes at Ascot on Champions Day last October. The Queen Anne Stakes provided Frankie with his first ever Royal Ascot win in 1990 (Markofdistinction) and he’s won the race 7 times in total – can he make it 8 in his last ride in the race that started his Royal Ascot journey?
Coventry Stakes: River Tiber @ 13/8
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, who has win the Coventry Stakes a record 9 times in the past, so that’s the first plus ahead of this Wootton Bassett 2 year-old colt. He’s raced twice and won both those starts very easily – by 10 lengths on debut at Navan and by 2 1/2 lengths at Naas last time (watch below). River Tiber was ridden by Ryan Moore both times as he’s expected to be doing the Royal Ascot steering too as he looks for his fourth success in this day one juvenile contest.
St James’s Palace Stakes: Chaldean @ 2/1 and Paddington @ 9/4
Similar to the Queen Anne Stakes, another of the big Group One races on day one – The St James’s Palace Stakes – also sees two horses standing out – this season’s English and Irish 2000 Guineas winners.
Chaldean gave Frankie Dettori a day to remember when taking the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last month (watch below) and this Andrew Balding runner will be a very popular pick to go in again. The Frankel colt has won 5 of his 7 career starts now and with that last win being his first try over a mile there could be more to come from this two-time Group One winner.
Paddington took the Irish 2000 Guineas at the end of May – winning by 2 lengths from stablemate Cairo (watch below) and with the English Guineas second, Hi Royal, back in third the form lines suggest there shouldn’t be a lot between these Classic winners. Trainer Aidan O’Brien, who looks after Paddington, has won the St James’s Palace Stakes 8 times.
Ascot Stakes: Bring On The Night @ 9/4
This 6 year-old has not been seen on the track since running an excellent 3/4 of a length second in this race 12 months ago – beaten by one of the Ascot Gold Cup favourites Coltrane and also gave that horse 5lbs (watch below). The form of that effort has been given a shot in the arm many times since with the winner now a leading ‘cup horse’ and rated 19lbs higher. Despite the absence from the course, Mullins loves readying one for the big day off a break and if Bring On The Night runs to the same level as last year will be a massive player here. The yard are eye-up their fifth win in this day one Royal Ascot marathon event, which is run over 2m4f.
Copper Horse Stakes: Vauban @ 2/1
National Hunt racing lovers will see a well-known face here as the Mullins Champion Hurdle 4th and the 2022 Triumph Hurdle winner, Vauban is entered in the 1m6f Copper Horse Stakes. Owned by the Ricci team, this 5 year-old was last seen running his stablemate State Man to 3 lengths in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle (watch below) but is back on the flat here. He’s raced just 4 times on the level but has won 50% of those contests – they all came pre-Mullins, when trained in France. Vauban looks a class act and in this handicap could be ‘thrown-in’ off a flat rating of just 101!
2023 Royal Ascot Bankers on Day Two: Wednesday 21st June
Prince Of Wales’s Stakes: Luxembourg @ 2/1 and Adayar @ 9/4
There’s a pattern building here, as we’ve another Group One race with two standout performers in – Luxembourg and Adayar.
Luxembourg was last seen winning the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the end of May at the Curragh (watch below) and many will remember this Aidan O’Brien runner coming third in the 2022 2000 Guineas last season. It’s a race O’Brien has also won four times in the past, with his most recent being Love in 2021.
Adayar was the 2021 Epsom Derby winner but is still in training at the age of 5. This Godolphin runner has only raced 6 times since his Blue Riband win on the Downs and returned this season to win the Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket (watch below). Owned by Godolphin, who have sent out 5 wins in this race and only need one more to become the most successful owners in the history of the race.
Duke Of Cambridge Stakes: Jumbly @ 5/2
This Gleneagles filly was moved from the Roger Charlton stable to Joseph O’Brien in Ireland over the winter and returned to the track last month with a decent second in the Lawades Stud Stakes at the Curragh (watch below). Jumbly is a previous winner at Ascot (not Royal) when winning at the Berkshire track last July in the Group Three Valiant Stakes and should be spot-on for this with that last run coming off 309-days away from the track.
2023 Royal Ascot Bankers on Day Three: Thursday 22nd June
Norfolk Stakes: Elite Status @ 6/4
Shot to the head of the Norfolk Stakes betting market after two facile wins at Doncaster on debut and last time out at Sandown in the Listed National Stakes (watch below). He’s won both races by a total of 8 lengths (3 and 5) and even though he’s likely to be taking on the Wesley Ward-trained speedball American Rascal, it’s hard to fault what Elite Status has done to date and looks the one to beat.
Ribblesdale Stakes: Al Asifah @ 4/5
A late supplement for this race and the bookmakers are taking no chances – making this Gosden runner odds-on for this day three Group Two contest. She’s a filly that has caught the eye on many – winning both starts well at Haydock and last time when taking a Listed race at Goodwood by an easy 6 1/2 lengths (watch below). Al Asifah is a Frankel filly too, so have some top-class breeding in her locker and despite this being a step up in class again the fact connections have forked out to get her in this race is a big sign she’s fit well and more than up to the rise in class.
2023 Royal Ascot Bankers on Day Four: Friday 23rd June
Commonwealth Cup: Little Big Bear @ 15/8
Just the eight past runnings of the Commonwealth Cup but trainer Aidan O’Brien has also got one win on the board when his Caravaggio won in 2017. The bookmakers feel he’s got another top chance of adding another success with Little Big Bear, who landed the Windsor Castle Stakes at this meeting last year.
This 3 year-old colt flopped in the 2000 Guineas earlier this season, but clearly didn’t stay that day and the drop back in trip (6f) was the key to seeing him get back to winning ways last time. He took the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock by just over a length (watch below) and if running to that level again here – albeit upped to a Group One – looks the one to beat again.
Coronation Stakes: Tahiyra @ 10/11
This Aga Khan horse will be many people’s main Royal Ascot banker over the 5 days and is also likely to be challenging to go off as the shortest-priced horse at the meeting. She ran a close second in the English 1000 Guineas at the start of last month and backed that run up by taking the Irish 1000 Guineas last time out (watch below). Tahiyra has only had four career runs so will have more to come and on form this season it’s no shock to see her as one of the big 2023 Royal Ascot favourites.
Trainer Dermot Weld will be looking for only his second win in this fillies Group One, with his last coming way back in 1978.
King Edward VII Stakes: King Of Steel @ 6/4
King Of Steel was last in action running a blinder in the 2023 Epsom Derby – going down by just 1/2 a length and almost pulling off the 66/1 shock (watch below). Therefore, this Roger Varian runner will be all the rage to go one better in this Royal Ascot race which is often billed as the ‘Ascot Derby’.
With only three career runs there should be more in the locker and if running off out in front again may prove hard to peg back against slightly weaker opposition, while last year’s Epsom Derby 5th, Changingoftheguard, won this race.
2023 Royal Ascot Bankers on Day Five: Saturday 24th June
Hardwicke Stakes: Hukum @ 2/1
High-class middle distance performer from the Owen Burrows yard that won the Coronation Cup at Epsom in 2022 and returned this season to land the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown – beating the 2022 Derby winner Desert Crown in the process (watch below). We can expect Hukum to be one of the top-rated in the field if running in the Hardwicke, plus was third in this race in 2021 and is a proven Royal Ascot winner after taking the King George V Stakes in 2020.
Queen Alexandra Stakes: Stratum @ SP
Stratum needs little introduction at Royal Ascot these days, having won this race for the last two years (watch his 2022 win below). There are rumours of Frankie Dettori getting the ride too, in what would be the Italian’s final Royal Ascot mount. He’ll have no better chance of going out on a high and ‘hitting the back of the net’ on a horse that is also owned Brighton FC chairman Tony Bloom.
When Is Royal Ascot 2023?
You can see the full 2023 Royal Ascot race times and schedule for the five days here.
📅Time/Date: Tues 20th June to Sat 24th June 2023 (1st race 2:30pm, last race 6:10pm)
🏇Racecourse: Royal Ascot, Berkshire
📺 TV: ITV/ Sky Sports Racing
🎲 Ascot Gold Cup Odds: Coltrane 3/1 | Eldar Eldarov 7/2 | Emily Dickinson 7/1
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