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Latest Profit & Loss Figures
Following a poor start, winners at 7/2 and 9/2 on Friday and 6/1 and 13/2 on Saturday meant the week ending Sunday, 14 June resulted in a profit of +£9.35. Hopefully, we can keep the good run going during the most important week of the Flat season which gets underway on Tuesday afternoon.
- P/L for the week ending Sunday, 14 June: +£9.35
- P/L for the year 2026 to date: +£155.50
- P/L for the year 2025: +£22.38
- P/L for the year 2024: +£200.42
- P/L since 1st September 2022: +£656.16
Alan Kelly's Tips - Saturday, 20 June
Saturday sees the final day of Royal Ascot for 2026. All seven races will be shown live on ITV Racing, beginning with the Norfolk Stakes at 2:30pm and ending with the marathon Queen Alexandra Stakes at 6:10pm.
2:30pm Royal Ascot - Ez Tina
One more victory in this Group 2 juvenile contest will see Ballydoyle trainer Aidan O’Brien set a record of 5 successes, one more than Matthew Dawson, James Ryan, John Porter and Atty Persse in a race which dates back to 1843. O’Brien has two representatives in this year’s renewal, the strongly-fancied Carry The Flag and outsider New Yorker.
One of the best winners of the race this century was the Wesley Ward-trained No Nay Never in 2013, now enjoying a very successful career at stud. The US handler is three-handed on this occasion with a trio of fillies, best of which looks to be impressive Woodbine scorer EZ TINA, the mount of Juan J Hernandez.
The daughter of Golden Pal showed blistering early pace to win going away on her debut last month and could have most of her rivals in trouble at an early stage over Ascot’s minimum trip. Clive Cox’s Orthodox, an easy winner on his debut at Salisbury last month may be best of the home runners.
Recommendation: Ez Tina - 9/1 with Paddy Power
3:05pm Royal Ascot - Kalpana
An excellent renewal of this Group 2 mile and a half contest with a field of 12 runners, many of which have won races at the highest level. 2024 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes winner Goliath showed much of his old sparkle when winning a Group 2 contest at Chantilly three weeks ago and the gelding has to be feared on his return to the Berkshire racecourse.
Ballydoyle’s 2024 St Leger winner Jan Brueghel will do well to bounce back from a gruelling race when finishing a 10 length second in Epsom’s Coronation Cup just two weeks ago, a remark which also applies to stablemate Lambourn. At double-figure prices, both Santorini Star and West Wind Blows have each-way claims, but the vote goes to the latter’s Newbury conqueror of last month, the Andrew Balding-trained KALPANA.
Despite looking as if she would come on plenty for the run, the daughter of Study Of Man was always holding the runner-up in the closing stages after cruising into the lead 2 out in that Group 3 Aston Park Stakes. Colin Keane’s mount has an excellent record at Ascot, most recently when proving far too good for Estrange and company in the Group 1 Fillies And Mares on Champions Day last October. Kalpana’s 3lb mares’ allowance should make her hard to beat once again.
Recommendation: Kalpana - 5/2 with bet365
3:40pm Royal Ascot - Joliestar (Nap)
The sprinting division in Europe is wide-open at the moment with no outstanding performer, unlike other parts of the world where there appears to be a plethora of top class speedsters, one of which is Noriyuki Hori’s Satono Reve, who came within half a length of winning this Group 1 contest 12 months ago when beating all bar French raider Lazzat.
Jockey Ryan Moore has been booked to ride the seven-year-old for just the second time (the pair 9th in Sha Tin’s Hong Kong Sprint just before Christmas), and while another big run is expected, Satono Reve may have to play second fiddle once again, on this occasion to top Australian sprinter JOLIESTAR (Nap).
Chris Waller’s mare has won five of her last seven races, the two most recent coming in Group 1 events at Randwick in the Spring. James McDonald’s mount likes to race prominently before staying-on strongly at the finish. Ascot’s stiff 6f should suit the daughter of Zoustar down to the ground and I expect the mare to have too much firepower for her rivals at the end of this valuable contest.
Recommendation: Joliestar (Nap) - 9/4 with William Hill
4:20pm Royal Ascot - Catullus (Each-Way)
William Haggas’s unbeaten Saber Strike heads the market at a best price of 9/4 for this Group 3 Jersey Stakes following the Night Of Thunder colt’s victory in last month’s Listed King Charles 11 Stakes at Newmarket. It could easily be argued that Into The Sky’s Betfred 2000 Guineas fourth place sets the standard, as the son of Starman is likely to be better suited by this furlong shorter trip.
However, with most bookmakers going four places, the 12/1 available with William Hill and Paddy Power about the Charlie Appleby-trained CATULLUS (Each-Way) makes some appeal. Following wind surgery and a gelding operation earlier in the year, William Buick’s mount could not have been more impressive in winning what had looked to be a competitive 7f handicap at Goodwood last month.
Named after the famous 1st century BC Roman poet, a victory for Catullus would be sweet music to the ears.
Recommendation: Catullus (Each-Way) - 12/1 with Paddy Power (4 places)
5:00pm Royal Ascot - Double Rush
Despite a maximum field of 28 runners for this Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap), I expect the first prize of over £90k to go to connections of one of the leading contenders. In a race featuring mainly exposed sprinters, the two horses who could well end up running in Listed or Group races before too long are the Andrew Balding-trained DOUBLE RUSH and Binhareer, one of two contenders from the William Haggas stable.
Drawn close to each other in stalls 24 and 22 respectively, it will be interesting to see what tactics are employed by jockeys Shane Foley and Tom Marquand. Sixth in last season’s Ayr Silver Cup, Binhareer ran a stormer on his reappearance at York’s Dante meeting when beaten a neck in effort to give John & Sean Quinn’s Dark Thirty 12lb in a 22-runner handicap on the Knavesmire.
Raised 5lb to a mark of 104, I think the 1lb Binhareer receives from Double Rush may not be quite enough as the son of Blue Point has made great strides since joining the Kingsclere trainer from that of Charles Hills earlier in the season. After winning a Heritage Handicap at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting, the four-year-old was expected to step-up in class for his next start.
The temptation of today’s big pot has obviously tempted connections to have one last go at the handicap cherry before moving into Pattern company. Having backed Double Rush (ante-post) at 7/1, I still think the 9/2 currently on offer is fair enough, although I expect odds of 5/1 or 11/2 to be available at some point.
Recommendation: Double Rush - 5/1 with Paddy Power
5:35pm Royal Ascot - Lost Boys
This Golden Gates Stakes (Handicap) is a rematch of Newbury’s London Gold Cup in which the Wathnan-owned pair of LOST BOYS and Sahara King (both with different owners then) fought out the finish of that informative handicap, with David Menuisier’s Night Of Thunder colt just coming out on top by a head.
On today’s revised terms, there should be little between the two once again, although I think the winner is the one with the greater scope and expect James McDonald's mount to confirm the form. James Doyle rides Sahara King. At a double-figure price, Alan King's Spyce has every chance of making the frame.
Recommendation: Lost Boys - 4/1 with bet365
6:10pm Royal Ascot - French Master (Each-Way)
Many of the 13 contenders for this marathon test will be racing over this kind of trip for the first time, including the ex French-trained Le Destrier, one of three runners for the powerful Closutton stable of Willie Mullins, and following an excellent first effort for the trainer when third behind Scandinavia in Leopardstown's Group 3 Levmoss Stakes last month.
While it is easy to see why Ryan Moore’s mount heads the market at a current best price of 2/1, I like the chances of Wathnan Racing’s runner FRENCH MASTER (Each-Way) for the John & Thady Gosden stable. The Frankel gelding looked an improving stayer last season when winning 1m 6f handicaps at Goodwood and Ascot prior to finishing a respectable 5th in the Goodwood Cup.
A close third in the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes on his reappearance, James Doyle's mount wasn’t given a hard time of it when unable to cope with the likes of Kalpana and West Wind Blows in Newbury’s 1m 4f Aston Park Stakes last time and is expected to be suited by this kind of extreme distance.
Recommendation: French Master (Each-Way) - 5/1 with William Hill (3 places)
* Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.
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About Alan Kelly
A passionate follower of horse racing for over 50 years, Alan has enjoyed a 40-year career in the betting industry, 28 of which he spent running his betting shop as an owner/manager.
A successful punter with a keen eye for value, Alan has had many betting highlights, including a Scoop 6 win and has shown a consistent profit in the battle with bookmakers since joining Freebets.com in 2008.
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