Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Royal Ascot 2026 runners preview

William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell is no stranger to Royal Ascot success and previews his small but select team crossing the Irish Sea this year

We’re excited to be heading over to Royal Ascot this year as we always are, and while we have a small team this week, we’re looking forward to running two horses we think have genuine chances.

Wednesday, Royal Ascot

Snellen goes to the Group Two Duke Of Cambridge (3.40pm) looking to extend her excellent record at Ascot. She obviously knows her way around the place having won the Chesham as a two-year-old and having run a huge race to be second in the Kensington Palace 12 months ago.

She ran a cracking race the other day in her prep for this, where she really pleased me to finish third at Leopardstown. I was delighted with that effort, and she should have improved for that outing too.

Mark Zahra takes the ride. She’s owned by Australians, so it was their call to pick him up, but from my point of view, it’s encouraging that he’s at least had a winner at the track. He’s a world class jockey as he’s shown, so we’re looking forward to him partnering her.

She’s not run around the round course at Ascot before, but she’s versatile, is drawn in the middle, so it shouldn’t be an inconvenience to her. She has a bit to find on official ratings, but I think she’s good enough to be placed.

Friday, Royal Ascot

Our other runner at the meeting is Quiet Mutiny who goes in Friday’s Sandringham Stakes (5.00pm). She won her maiden nicely last July, beating Precise, who’s obviously gone on to become a superstar filly for Aidan O’Brien.

Her reappearance at Cork was on soft ground, which would’ve been far from ideal, but she ran a nice enough race. Next time out, she took a bit of time to get going over the seven furlongs but came home really well – probably even best of all. She looks ready to step up to the mile here, and she’s in great form. I’m expecting a big run from her.