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Key events
Venetian Sun’s part-owner, Tony Bloom, says the win was “delightful, really happy for Clifford coming back after his injury, thanks to the trainer … but what a horse, such an amazing sprinter.” Another decent day at the races for the Brighton owner.
“This filly got me my first Group One in France, and she’s done it again,” says jockey Clifford Lee. “She’s just fantastic to ride. It’s fantastic when days like this happen.”
An incredible moment for Lee, who suffered a life-threatening injury on a cross-country bike ride last October, breaking a vertebra in his neck and spending two days in a coma.
3.05 Commonwealth Cup result
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Venetian Sun 11-8F
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Spicy Marg 50-1
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Division 8-1
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Havana Anna 28-1
3.05 Commonwealth Cup Away out of the stalls, the field splits into two packs and there’s plenty of jostling for position… Division moves towards the rail with Venetian Sun trying to reel in surprise leader Spicy Marg … and the favourite wins by a noise!
As you can see from the odds below, there’s a battle of great minds coming up as Albert Einstein goes up against Charles Darwin, like something out of TV Burp. The favourite is Venetian Sun, 22 in the field for this Group One race.
3.05 Commonwealth Cup odds
2.30 Albany Stakes result
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Libertango 6-1
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Sun Goddess 10-11F
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Light of Dawn 11-1
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Dark Issue 22-1; 25 ran
Billy Loughnane, the winning jockey, says Libertango handled heat well at Leicester. “I’m so hungry to ride winners, and be involved in these big races,” he adds.
Sun Goddess must settle for second place, with Light of Dawn third and 22-1 outsider Dark Issue grabbing fourth. Full result to follow …
2.30 Albany Stakes: Sun Goddess looks well placed, at the head of a trio of favourites – but while Light of Dawn is held off, Libertango finds the outside line and gets the better of the big favourite. Libertango wins the Albany!
2.30 Albany Stakes: Libertango and Jolivette have crept into single figures in the betting, but Sun Goddess will likely go off as an odds-on favourite.
Sun Goddess is a huge favourite for the opening Albany Stakes – available at evens, with the nearest challenger, Light of Dawn, at around 10-1. We’re off in 10 minutes …
The daily royal procession is well under way, the King and Queen leading it as they have done each day this week. A rough day for the horse riders in their heavy finery, with temperatures verging on 29 degrees. We also get to enjoy Ed Chamberlain chomping a “sconut”, and some hat chat with a group of milliners. Lovely stuff.
2.30 Albany Stakes odds
An hour until the first race – catch up with Thursday’s action and Friday’s tips here.
Greg Wood
6.10 Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes preview
Back to the straight course for the finale, and a chance for the American trainer Wesley Ward, a regular winner at this meeting over the last 15 years, to get another on the board via Bacio, who has been handed the plum draw in stall 31. He arrives with three wins from four starts, the most recent of which was an easy two-length win on firm going at Churchill Downs. Jazl, the winner of his two starts this year including his handicap debut at Leicester last time, is also attracting support despite his low draw in stall five, while Gold Digger, in 10, is another big runner and recently described as potentially being a Group horse in a handicap by his jockey, Saffie Osborne.
Timeform top-rated: Jazl.
SELECTION: GOLD DIGGER.
Greg Wood
5.35 King Edward VII Stakes preview
Just five go to post for the “Ascot Derby” in the absence of Echo Of Stars, and there has been a big market move for Aidan O’Brien’s Causeway, who has replaced John & Thady Gosden’s Water To Wine as the favourite since yesterday afternoon, at around 6-5. He arrives on the back of three straight wins this season, including a win in a well-run Group Three at the Curragh in May, and was left in the Derby by his trainer until the final declaration stage. Water To Wine is taking a big step up in class after two wide-margin wins in novice events but has obvious scope for major improvement, while Ancient Egypt, in the Amo Racing colours, was eighth in the Derby for Charlie Johnston and should offer an early test of the Epsom form. Golden Story too deserves a mention, not least because his form when third behind the subsequent French Derby winner, Constitution River, in the Dee Stakes at Chester was handsomely franked when Generic, who was just under three lengths in front of him, won the Hampton Court Stakes here yesterday.
Timeform top-rated: Water To Wine.
SELECTION: CAUSEWAY.
Greg Wood
5.00 Sandringham Stakes preview
Another huge field on the straight mile, and once again the realistic prospect that those drawn on the far side are starting at a significant disadvantage. Add in the fact that the pacey Lyrics Of Life, a front-runner on her last two starts, is drawn in stall 29 and what already seems to be a strong bias towards the stands’ side could be further enhanced. It is no real surprise to find Glyfada, drawn in 31 with Oisin Murphy taking the ride, heading the market on 4-1, while Seet (stall 20), Bintaziza (32) and Green Carrera (30) are popular too, but I’m going to row in with Gavin Cromwell’s Quiet Mutiny in 25, at around 12-1. Cromwell is better known to punters from his Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning exploits in the jumping game, but he has saddled two winners from just eight starters at this meeting and his runners here are always worth a close look.
Timeform top-rated: Darn Hot Gallop.
SELECTION: QUIET MUTINY.
Greg Wood
4.20 Coronation Stakes preview
If Aidan O’Brien has not reached 101 Ascot winners already, this race will probably be the one via either Precise or True Love, though whether it takes Ryan Moore any closer to a Royal Ascot century of his own remains to be seen. Wayne Lordan, O’Brien’s No2 rider, has been aboard the winner in both the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket where True Love was five lengths in front of Precise in seventh – and the Irish equivalent at the Curragh, where Precise turned the tables and finished two-and-a-half lengths to the good. Moore has opted for Precise this afternoon and she is odds-on to prove him right, but there may not be quite as much between the pair as the market suggests. Outside the “big two”, Owen Burrows’ Touleen goes to post at around 12-1 to give Saffie Osborne her first Royal Ascot winner, and she may well be better suited to this track than Newmarket, where she was sixth, four-and-a-half lengths behind True Love, in the Guineas. Balantina, trained by Aidan O’Brien’s younger son, Donnacha, has not run so far this season but deserves a mention too given that her last start was a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.
Timeform top-rated: Precise.
SELECTION: PRECISE.
Greg Wood
3.40 Duke of Edinburgh Stakes preview
All eyes will be on the royal runner Warrant Holder here, as John and Thady Gosden’s runner has as good a chance as any in the scarlet and purple this week, according to the market at least. The four-year-old son of Frankel is currently on offer at around 4-1 to follow up a comfortable success over 10 furlongs at York last time out, and he has winning form at this longer trip too. It is a highly-competitive event, however, and a duo in the Wathnan Racing colours – Hopewell Rock and Opportunity – both arrive with strong credentials along with Emit, whose trainer, Joseph O’Brien, is giving his dad a run for his money in the race for the top trainer prize this week. Ryan Moore, who had a well-backed handicap winner for O’Brien Jr on Thursday, is booked to ride. Further down the list, meanwhile, Christophe Soumillon is an eye-catching booking for Gary and Josh Moore’s Mondo Man, best known to British punters for his hurdling exploits over the winter but prior to that a useful performer on the Flat in France, where his best form included a four-length fifth in the 2024 French Derby.
Timeform top-rated: Hopewell Rock.
SELECTION: MONDO MAN.
Friday’s market movers from Oddschecker
Greg Wood
3.05 Commonwealth Cup preview
Twenty-two runners is the joint-biggest field for this race since it was added to the Royal Ascot schedule in 2015, but there is a standout on form and Venetian Sun will set off at a short price to follow up her decisive success in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock last time. She was down the field in the 1,000 Guineas prior to that win, when she clearly failed to get home, but it was a risk worth taking as she was already a Group One winner as a juvenile in the Prix Morny (narrowly ahead of Gstaad, this year’s Irish 2,000 Guineas winner). If she runs close to her Haydock form out of stall 13, she should win, but her price may persuade many punters to look for an each-way alternative, with Aidan O’Brien’s Albert Einstein, Charlie Appleby’s Wise Approach – the Middle Park Stakes winner last season – and Division, the runner-up behind Venetian Sun at Haydock, high on the shortlist.
Timeform top-rated: Venetian Sun.
SELECTION: VENETIAN SUN.
Greg Wood
2.30 Albany Stakes preview
Fresh from registering his 100th Royal Ascot winner here in yesterday’s Gold Cup, Aidan O’Brien will hope to set off towards his second century with Sun Goddess, his only runner in this year’s Albany. It would have been an obvious target for Wednesday’s Queen Mary winner, Victorious, but O’Brien was happy to let her drop back down to five furlongs and rely on Sun Goddess alone for this six-furlong contest. Many punters with winnings from Scandinavia’s Gold Cup will need no further invitation to get stuck in.
Sun Goddess was beaten on her first trip to the track, when a starting price of 6-1 suggested that she was expected to need the experience, but bolted up by five lengths at the Curragh a couple of weeks later and has been a firm favourite for this race ever since. The betting suggests that her biggest threat could be Silent Beauty, in the purple colours of Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation. She did nothing wrong when winning by four lengths at Yarmouth first time out, but is in a single-figure stall – not ideal given the “golden highway” against the stands’ rail for much of the week. Karl Burke’s Light Of Dawn, who was knocked down to Wathnan Racing for around £550k at the breeze-up sales, is another once-raced winner worth a second look, but Sun Goddess will take all the beating.
Timeform top-rated: Sun Goddess.
SELECTION: SUN GODDESS
Greetings one and all, as we head into a sweltering fourth day at Royal Ascot. Here are today’s races:
2.30 Albany Stakes (Group 3)
3.05 Commonwealth Cup (Group 1)
3.40 Duke of Edinburgh Stakes
4.20 Coronation Stakes (Group 1)
5.00 Sandringham Stakes
5.35 King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2)
6.10 Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes
Preamble
Greg Wood
Day four of Royal Ascot 2026 and it’s going to be a scorcher, with peak temperatures of up to 28C forecast for this afternoon. A day for sunscreen, shades and plenty of hydration breaks between races, and also a chance for the punters to press home the advantage after the feature events on the first three days were won by a heavily-backed favourite.
Scandinavia (11-8), in yesterday’s Gold Cup, followed up the victories of Bow Echo (5-6) and Ombudsman (11-10) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and there are three short-priced favourites in the first four races today that multiply out to an 8-1 treble.
The punters will look to Aidan O’Brien’s Sun Goddess (5-4) to get them off to a storming start in the Albany Stakes at 2.30, and move on to Venetian Sun (6-4) in the Commonwealth Cup at 3.05, before getting stuck into Precise (4-6) in the Coronation Stakes.
The going at Ascot remains good-to-firm after another 5mm of water was applied overnight, and an interesting point from the GoingStick readings is that there is an increasing disparity between the two sides of the track on the straight course.
The latest reading on the stands’ side – where the high-numbered stalls have been dominant in most of the straight-track races this week – is 8.3, while the far side is 8.9. Given that the stands’ rail has already held sway on the first three days, it is entirely possible that most or all of the runners will come down the near rail this afternoon. The 25-runner Albany will give an early indication.
Picks for the seven races on today’s card are here, and you can follow all the action as it happens here on the blog from early to late.
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