Royal Ascot
Royal Ascot 2026 Ante Post Tips Following Scratchings
Royal Ascot features eight prestigious Group 1 races across its five-day festival, ranging from five-furlong sprints to the marathon two-and-a-half-mile Gold Cup and William Hill News tipster Steve Mullington casts his eye over the action.
Following the latest scratchings stage on May 26, our horse racing expert Steven Mullington suggests eight antepost picks in each of the Group 1 races.
Royal Ascot Antepost Tips 2026
- (TUES) Opera Ballo WIN, Rayevka E/W, Bow Echo WIN
- (WEDS) Daryz WIN
- (THURS) Rahiebb WIN
- (FRI) Venetian Sun WIN, So Regal E/W
- (SAT) Comanche Brave E/W
With less than a month to go until the 2026 meeting gets underway, anticipation is growing ahead of this summer’s event. Without further ado, let’s get down to business with these Royal Ascot ante-post selections…
Royal Ascot Ante Post Tips Day 1
Queen Anne Stakes Prediction
After a successful winter campaign in Meydan, OPERA BALLO (9/2) retuned to British shores to capture the Group 2 bet365 Mile at Sandown with some ease.
I favour this Charlie Appleby runner over his stablemate Notable Speech.
King Charles III Stakes Prediction
Francis Graffard doesn’t send anything over to Royal Ascot just for the sake of it, so his RAYEVKA (8/1) has to be taken very seriously in this sprint.
He was dominant in the Group 2 Prix De Saint-Georges at Longchamp, which put him right on the each-way radar for this Royal meet.
St James’s Palace Stakes Prediction
BOW ECHO (10/11) showed a devastating turn of speed in the 2000 Guineas and will take some stopping in this one mile contest.
He’s already a shade of odds-on now in our horse racing betting, but I think he will trade even shorter on the day.
Royal Ascot Ante Post Tips Day 2
Prince of Wales’s Stakes Prediction
The Arc hero DARYZ (11/10) recently demolished his rivals at Longchamp, delivering an extraordinary display of speed and now heads directly to the Prince of Wales’s Stakes where he holds an outstanding chance.
Royal Ascot Ante Post Tips Day 3
Ascot Gold Cup Prediction
Yorkshire Cup hero RAHIEBB (4/1) can put it up to the big guns in the Thursday showpiece.
The Frankel-colt narrowly missed out to Scandinavia in last season’s St Leger and can turn the tables on him on this better ground.
Royal Ascot Ante Post Tips Day 4
Commonwealth Cup Prediction
I was that taken with VENETIAN SUN (2/1) at Haydock Park that I give her a solid chance in the Commonwealth Cup too.
Already a course and distance scorer, she can put it up to the boys again.
Coronation Stakes Prediction
Kingman-filly SO REGAL (10/1) is learning her job all the time, and she showed us enough at York to make her a lively outsider for this one mile fillies race.
Cheveley Park Stud has won the Coronation Stakes four times before, so it is certainly a race they like to target from a breeding perspective.
Royal Ascot Ante Post Tips Day 5
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes Prediction
The two international raiders from Australia and Japan currently dominate our antepost sports betting market for this Group 1, however I have my doubts about the calibre of their combined recent victories, thus making me keen to take them on.
Donnacha O’Brien’s COMANCHE BRAVE (12/1) was a clear and decisive winner of the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh and has to be worth an early each-way play for Royal Ascot, based upon that effort.
