Royal Ascot Betting Kicks Off With Three Group One Races

The 2009 Royal Ascot meeting gets underway on Tuesday 16th June and signals the start of five days top class racing action which forms one of the most famous and prestigious race meetings in the calendar. With no fewer than 17 Group Class races, including seven Group One events, Royal Ascot betting is big business for the bookmakers as punters are spoilt for choice as the best horses around line up to race for prize money exceeding £4 million for the meeting.

Day one kicks off with a bang with three back to back Group One races, starting with the Queen Anne Stakes, followed by King’s Stands Stakes and then the St James’s Palace Stakes – setting the standard for the rest of the week. The Group Two Coventry Stakes together with the Ascot Stakes Handicap and Windsor Castle Stakes complete the line up for Tuesday and we have drawn together our tips and best bookmakers odds below for the three feature races.

Check out the following link for the latest Royal Ascot Odds, tips and results for Tuesday and every day of Royal Ascot.

2:30 – Queen Anne Stakes

Godolphin have won this race four times out of the last ten and in Gladiatorus, Saeed bin Suroor and Frankie Dettori could well have another winner. It is difficult to assess how good his form actually is having done all his running in Itlay prior to 2009 and his three wins from three runs so far this season coming at Nad Al Sheba, but the manner in which he won the Group One, Dubai Duty Free, last time out at the end of March suggests he is better than any of his rivals in this field. Providing he has taken to training at his new trainer’s Newmarket HQ he could well provide his resident jockey, Ahmed Atjtebi, a winning start on his Royal Ascot debut. The biggest dnagers come in the form of the Richard Hannon trained Paco Boy and the improving Sir Michael Stoute trained Main Aim.

Gladiatorus is a best price 9/4 to with the opening race at Royal Ascot with Bet365, Ladbrokes and William Hill.

3:05 King’s Stands Stakes

Run over five furlongs, The King’s Stands Stakes is the most valuable Sprint in Europe and makes up the British leg of the the Global Sprint Challenge. As such, it attracts the best runners from all corners of the globe and Tuesday’s renewal sees runners line up from as far afield as America and Australia but it is the British based Amour Propre that has attracted all the interest in the betting leading up to the race.  A best price 10/3 (with Bet365 and Victor Chandler) the lightly raced Henry Candy runner is fancied to continue his upward curve and make it five wins from six runs. However, it remains unseen whether he can compete against several proven Group One campaigners, none more so than Borderlescott, who has 11 place finishes to his name from 14 Group One runs and at 9/1 with Totesport, makes plenty of each way appeal. IT ahs to be remember this race has been won by foreign horses for the last four years and the Australian Raider, Scenic Blast, is the second favourie and could well contest favouritism before the off with Amour Propre and make it five foreign victories on the bounce in King Stands Stakes.

3:45 – St James’s Palace Stakes

This is the feature race of Day one of Royal Ascot and is all about one horse, Mastercraftsman, who is the favourite for the race and can provide Aidan O’Brien with his sixth St James’s Palace winner in the last ten years and make it a hat trick after he trained the winners in 2007 and 2008. Beaten in the English 2,000 Guineas in May, Mastercraftsman improved tremendously to land the Irish 2,000 Guineas in very impresive fashion at the Curragh a few weeks ago and at odds of 10/11 he is expected to continue where he left off that day and give the Ballydoyle yard their first of what should be several Ascot winners this week. The 2,000 Guineas runner up, Delegator, is the second favourite for this race but will need to show much more than he did in the Irish equivalent if he is to turn the tables on Mastercraftsman whilst fellow Irish runner and Dewhurst winner, Intense Focus, should not be written off at a potentially big price of 9/1 with Paddypower if he recaptures the type of ability he showed as a two year old.

Mastercraftsman can be backed to win the St James’s Palace Stakes at 10/11 with Totesport – where you can also get a £25 Free Bet when you sign up.