Royal Ascot best bet: Big Evs ticks all the right boxes to land King Charles III Stakes

15:45 Royal Ascot: King Charles III Stakes 

• Race details: 5 furlongs, Group 1, 3-year-olds+
• 2023 winner: Bradsell (14/1) - Hollie Doyle (J), Archie Watson (T)
• Recent Trends: 20/22 winners had won a Group race before, 13/14 favourites failed to win

 

Planet Sport Bet Royal Ascot Special: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if Kerdos finishes in the first 4 places, get a £5 Free Bet!

As the likely and justifiable favourite, Big Evs appears to be very much the one to beat after landing the Windsor Castle Stakes at last year’s Festival and crowning a stellar four-win 2023 campaign with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in November.

Michael Appleby’s classy young colt made it five wins out of six when shrugging off a five-pound penalty to see off half a dozen rivals on his season debut at York a month ago, and anything like his best form should see him become the second straight three-year-old winner of this renewal.

Suggested bet: Big Evs in the 15:45 at Royal Ascot

Any horse finishing ahead of the market leader will know they have run a good race, and there are plenty of candidates capable of pushing them to the line, headed by Ed Bethell’s Regional, who shaped up well when runner-up on season debut at the Curragh 24 days ago.

There will also be plenty of support for Kerdos and Believing, who both arrive off the back of recent wins at Haydock Park, with the latter also having placed in Group 1 company over a longer six-furlong trip at the same venue last autumn.

• Tip advised by David Xristo on Tipstrr

With 13 of the 17 starters available at double-digit odds at the time of writing, it would be unwise to discount the chances of Valiant Force, who was a memorable 150/1 winner of the Norfolk Stakes here 12 months ago, and could well feature again now he has returned from a short-lived venture in the States.

Crimson Advocate could also outrun his odds under William Buick, but catching the collective eye of Tipstrr’s pundits is Diligent Harry, who has returned as good as ever this year.

Clive Cox saddled the winner of this race in 2016, and will be quietly optimistic of his six-year-old’s chances here after watching him back up a couple of all-weather wins in February with some promising form on turf more recently.

Outsider punt: Diligent Harry each-way in the 15:45 at Royal Ascot

Third of 12 in a group 1 in Meydan in March, his one outing on UK turf saw him occupy the same position in the Clipper Stakes at York last month, when he was only a neck and a nose away from a visit to the winner’s enclosure.

Rossa Ryan will have to bring the very best of his mount to beat or even split the market leaders here, but with four places widely available (even six in some quarters), Diligent Harry might just be a dark horse to make the frame.

• Tip advised by The Profit Rocket on Tipstrr

 

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