Royal Ascot was a bumper year for punters last year. The event drained profits from William Hill who lost £4m on the event as a whole. A torrent of winning favourites during the five day event caused this pain for the bookmaker. From June 14th to June 18th, 17 group races over 5 days certainly gives Ascot enthusiasts something to get excited about. So what does Royal Ascot offer punters in 2011? First off, and understandably, William Hill may be a lot more cautious for 2011’s Ascot Race meeting. After loosing money on favourites last year remember to compare their odds against favourites at other bookmakers. Royal Ascot is well known in the racing world that favourites can run better than expected…. great for us punters.
Who are the favourites for the 2011 St. Jame’s Palace Stakes Race? 14th June 2011.
The St. James Palace Stakes race is a highlight of the first days racing at Royal Ascot.
1. Frankel.
Owned by a Saudi prince, Kahlid Abdulla, named the horse after a famous American trainer called Bobby Frankel. Frankel the horse is trained by Henry Cecil. Frankel has been known to battle with the jockey with an explosion of energy very early on in a race. This is what crowds witnessed at the 2011 2,000 Guineas where Frankel took an early lead and held it to win the race. Frankel has been a very successful horse for his owner and has attracted much interested from analysts from organisations like Timeform. The St. James Palace Stakes Race is over the same distance. With all this attention Frankel is a good favourite but the price will be well below evens and will not offer value. Possibly a good choice for anyone wanting to trade the odds on Betfair.
2. Wootton Basset.
Wootton Basset, trained by Richard Fahey) had some success in the French 3 year old races last year. Earlier this season the horse did not transform these earlier success into wins at races like the Poule de Essai de Poulains. He came 5th. Wootton Basset may struggle against stronger contenders from the UK and Ireland. Although good value odds could be found for a placed finish.
3. Dream Ahead
Dream Ahead is trained by David Simcock, and has raised some eye brows because the horse was rated the same as Frankel back in January in the European 2 yr old category. Dream Ahead performs much better when the ground is soft. Wait for rain for Dream Ahead to be a challenger for Frankel. A play on the weather it seams. David Simcock, is quoted as saying “If the ground is right our first choice would be the St James’s Palace Stakes. He has been ready to go for some time but we’ve been waiting for rain.” So check the weather and compare your odds!
So from the first day of the Royal Ascot race event to the last. The highlight is the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
A surprise here is that Patrick Shaw the trainer of Rocket Man has confirmed that the horse will not be running. The race has come too soon after other international commitments. The Golden Jubilee Stakes is notorious for being very difficult to predict and is somewhat of a lottery. Great fun for a punt none the less. Delegator is currently favourite for the race and has caused a stir on forums and message board of websites like Racing Post.
The biggest race on the first day is the Queen Anne Stakes has been some what overlooked in this post. As the race draws most interest the odds seldom offer value. Two and three year old horses make up the biggest races. At such a young age it is difficult to assess or predict how well horses will perform. Young horses haven’t had a chance to form trends for jockeys and ‘the going’ (you know, hard, firm, good to firm etc).
Some lesser known races for older horse include Tuesday’s Ascot Stakes Handicap, Wednesday’s Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap), Friday’s Wolferton Handicap (Listed Race) and Buckingham Palace Stakes (Heritage Handicap), Saturday’s Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap) and Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (Heritage Handicap). For all these race visitors may like to choose an online free bet to place a wager.