Royal Ascot Day 1 Tips
- Rosallion (14.30, Queen Anne Stakes) 1pt win - 11/4 William Hill
- Ruling Court (16.20, St James’s Palace Stakes) 1pt E/W - 11/4 Bet365
The 2025 Royal Ascot event takes place this week as the highlight of the British flat racing season begins on Tuesday, 17 June.
Five days of top quality racing see eight Group 1 contests across Britain’s most lucrative meeting of the year, with over £10m in prize money up for grabs across 35 races.
And the first of these races will take place on Tuesday from 2.30pm, with the Queen Anne Stakes and the St James’s Palace Stakes two of the three Group 1 contests and the highlights of day one on the Berkshire course.
In the former, the quartet of Rosallion, Lead Artist, Dancing Gemini and Notable Speech reignite their battle from the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month , while the St James’s Field of Gold looks to consolidate his rise to the top with a win against 2,000 Guineas rival Ruling Court.
And it is indeed Rosallion and Field of Gold who are the respective early favourites with horse racing betting sites, with the former having been priced at 11/4 and the latter as low as 5/6 in the antepost betting.
Queen Anne Stakes prediction
The Queen Anne Stakes is the opening race of Royal Ascot, taking place at 2.30pm (live on ITV Racing).
In the biggest race of Day 1, the quartet of Rosallion, Lead Artist, Dancing Gemini and Notable Speech will face off exactly a month after a dramatic Lockinge Stakes run at Newbury.
It was Lead Artist who won on that day – with Dancing Gemini second and Rosallion third – but the order of favourites is different ahead of the opening race of Royal Ascot.
Rosallion, who won the St James’s Palace Stakes in 2024, enters this one as a 11/4 antepost favourite in what will be just his second run since that win almost a year ago, though his performance then means he sets off this week as the highest-rated horse.
A 333-day absence means he has not run as much this year as some of his competitors, but a strong showing in the Lockinge suggests that there is further improvement to come, and his previous displays on different conditions – including wins in Curragh and Longchamp – illustrate why he’s been the early favourite.
And we’re backing the four-year-old to make it back-to-back wins at Royal Ascot, with a wager on Rosallion to win the Queen Anne Stakes offered around 11/4 with various betting sites.
Royal Ascot Day 1 prediction 1: Rosallion to win the Queen Anne Stakes - 11/4 William Hill
St James’s Palace Stakes prediction
Another of the three Group 1 contests on the opening day sees a rematch of the 2000 Guineas as Ruling Court and Field of Gold face off again just over a month after the Newmarket Classic.
It was Ruling Court who won on the day in May, but he is only priced as thew second favourite in this one at odds of 11/4, with Field of Gold as low as 5/6.
While the latter came home well in the Guineas and looked to many to be the best horse – beaten only due to timing issues – he then went on to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas at Curragh on 24 May with a dominant performance, which has contributed to his status as favourite ahead of this one.
As for Ruling Court, he eventually withdrawn from the running at the Epsom Derby on 7 June due to the conditions and so will enter this race the fresher of the two, though it is Field of Gold who has been the star of the flat-racing season so far.
While many are backing the Juddmonte horse to complete his rise to the top with a win on Tuesday, prices around 5/6 don’t offer a lot of value, so we think an each-way wager on Ruling Court provide the best value on Royal Ascot betting sites in this one.
Royal Ascot Day 1 prediction 2: Ruling Court each-way - 11/4 Bet365
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