Wednesday, 2nd June 2026
In ATC today….
I’ve studied 25+ years of data on the Royal Ascot handicaps….
…. and if you’re set on digging out bets of your own next week….
…. I’ve got some top profit angles for your consideration ….
Oh…. and check out this week’s target races….
Read on….
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Royal Ascot starts on Tuesday 16th June….
…. offering a dozen massive handicaps to target….
Of course, I’ll approach each race as it comes….
…. digging out well-treated horses that can run BIG races at value prices….
But there’s more than one way to skin a cat….
…. and if you know a something the next man doesn’t….
…. an angle that works…. an insight that offers advantage…. an approach that consistently wins money….
…. that’s useful too – a cutting edge in the market….
I’ve spent years studying these things….
…. and I’ve got 25+ years of data from Royal Ascot to work with….
If you’re set on digging out bets of your own at next week’s meeting….
…. below you’ll find some top angles of approach for your consideration….
…. and I’ll have loads more for you to get access to next week….
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1. Go low in the Wokingham….
I’m not talking about the draw….
…. I’m talking about saddle cloth numbers….
They’re a good way of splitting the field in a race where 25+ runners have gone to post in 21 of the last 24 renewals....
Here are the facts….
15 of the last 25 winners of the Wokingham carried a double-figure saddlecloth….
…. and so did 33 of the last 40 horses to place (2nd 3rd, 4th & 5th) in the race....
It’s not a 100% guaranteed angle of attack….
…. but there’s definitely something in it….
…. the lower numbers – the lower weights – are very much the percentage play….
Whether it’s a horse that’s dropped down the rankings from a previous high….
…. or a horse still on its way up the ladder and yet to show its full hand of cards to the official assessor….
…. less weight offers a horse more chance of coming out on top in the modern Wokingham….
…. at least that’s what the numbers tell us….
It’s something worth knowing….
…. most of the people you will be betting against next week don’t….
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2. An off-the-radar player in the 3yo handicaps….
There are five handicaps exclusively for 3yo horses at Royal Ascot….
The Britannia (straight mile)….
…. the Sandringham (straight mile for fillies)….
…. and the King George V Stakes (12f)….
…. all races present on the schedule for some time….
We also have the Golden Gates (10f)….
…. and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (5f)….
…. both added to the roster in 2020 and retained going forward….
The 3yos make big strides of progression at this (still) relatively early stage of the season….
…. and some trainers have a better track record than others at getting their 3yos to produce big performances in these prestigious Royal handicaps….
I’m thinking the Gosden team, William Haggas, Aiden O’Brien & Charlie Appleby….
…. but I’m always most interested in off-the-radar options….
…. and the 3yo handicaps at the Royal meeting throw up an interesting candidate that the market might undervalue….
Ed Dunlop hasn’t had too many qualifiers over the years….
…. but the 3yo handicappers he has directed to the Royal meeting performed with great credit….
Two winners and 9 placers from 27 runners produce a win rate of 7.4% and a healthy total place strike rate of 33%....
The winners were sent off at 11s and 20s. The placers included horses returned at 14s (x2), 16s (x2) and 25s….
The prices were there for value hunters to latch on to….
The biggest and best parts of Dunlop’s figures were produced in years gone by rather than recent times – that much is true….
…. though he did place with one at 16s in 2024…..
But the right horses are not subject to timetables….
…. they come when they come – and it’s about getting them to produce when they do turn up….
Anything Dunlop puts into one of the 3yo handicaps is worth the onceover next week….
…. his record testifies to the fact….
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3. A cluster of interest in the Royal Hunt Cup….
A massive field always goes to post for Wednesday’s Royal Hunt Cup….
…. and the draw stats can help you zero-in on types likely to run well….
I’ve studied the performance of each and every individual stall in the race across the last 24 years….
…. and horses running out of some stalls beat a far larger proportion of their opponents than those running out of others….
The table below shows individual stall records – with the top 10 performing stalls shaded….
If you were looking for the most significant section of the draw….
…. the cluster of stalls from 17 to 25 (where just two stalls register a %btn figure below 50%) must be of interest….
The last 122 starters from that cluster produced 4 winners, 21 places and additional 6 horses that finished 6th….
…. ‘live’ horses drawn in that cluster might just have something going for them.…
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4. Support handicappers sired by Frankel....
It’s too early to be absolutely certain….
…. but if Frankel is going to forge a reputation as a sire whose genetics represent an advantage to horses running in Royal handicaps on Ascot’s idiosyncratic surface….
…. you might expect his early record to look something like it does right now....
The sample size isn’t large enough to exclude the possibility that the performance of Frankel progeny in Royal handicaps to date owes more to anomaly than to any real or measurable advantage....
…. but we can only work with the evidence we have to hand….
…. and what the table above says can’t be argued with….
If you’d backed all Frankel’s handicappers at the Royal meeting 1pt e/w at SP, the profit would weigh in at 44.5 points....
…. and that figure doesn’t tell the full story….
…. because you’d probably have earned place payouts (via the Extra places that many bookies offer on the big handicaps at Royal Ascot)….
…. on Simply Brilliant (6/24 in the 2017 Britannia @ 33s)….
…. on Collide (5/19 in the 2019 Duke of Edinburgh @ 14s)….
…. on King Frankel (4/14 in the 2021 Golden Gates @ 4s)….
…. and Persist (7/28 in the 2022 Sandringham @ 7s)….
…. and on Frankness (6/26 in the 2023 Palace of Holyroodhouse @ 9s)….
Factor those place payouts in and profits on Frankel handicappers top out at 60.4 points….
…. and don’t forget that figure relates to bets struck at SP….
…. you’d probably have done better still with Betfair SP or on the Tote….
The bottom line is this….
…. if you’re looking for an angle to play across the 5-days at next week’s Royal meeting – the Frankel angle is one worth considering….
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That’s all for today….
ICYMI – this week’s target races….
Back tomorrow….
Meantime – contact me at – nick.pullen@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
Stay tuned….
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