We’re less than a month away from the 2025 Royal Ascot meeting and our horse racing writer has picked out two antepost fancies for the Ascot Gold Cup and the Commonwealth Cup.
Ascot Gold Cup
The showpiece of the Royal Ascot meeting – the Ascot Gold Cup, is shaping up to be an intriguing affair with the favourites flip-slopping at the top of the market in recent days.
Aidan O’Brien sent the ante-post market for the Gold Cup into flux, after he gave a worrying update on Kyprios (5/2) following his Saval Beg victory at Leopardstown.
The superstar stayer appeared to walk away gingerly from the winner’s enclosure at after the race, with Coolmore reporting the day after: “Kyprios is very good this morning and is sound.
“We think he knocked his pastern after turning sharply in the winner’s enclosure. X-rays and scans were all clean and we are very happy with him.”
Before the injury scare Kyprios was odds-on favourite for a third Gold Cup. But stablemate Illinois (9/4) has now been hammered in the betting from 6-1 into 9-4 for the same race.
Winner of the recent Ormonde Stakes at Chester, Illinois finished the St Leger runner-up, as well as taking second place in the Grand Prix de Paris and the Great Voltigeur before winning the Prix Chaudenay at the Arc meeting.
Whoever it is who turns up at the Ascot Gold Cup from the Aidan O’Brien stable, they will undoubtably be a tough nut to crack and they will have the services of Ryan Moore, one of the most successful Royal Ascot jockeys of all-time.
At considerably larger odds, Courage Mon Ami (14/1 in our sports betting) heads straight to Royal Ascot after missing the Aston Park Stakes at Newbury.
John and Thady Gosden’s six-year-old put his owners Wathnan Racing well and truly on the map, when tasting Gold Cup glory at the Royal meeting in 2023.
After a series of setbacks, and missing the whole of 2024, the son of Frankel is reportedly firing on all cylinders once again.
Commonwealth Cup
The last few days have been informative so far as the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot is concerned, and Babouche (5/1) is one such horse that has surged to the head of the market.
She returned to her devastating best with an authoritative display in the Goffs Lacken Stakes at Naas and looks a real live candidate to play a major role in the Commonwealth Cup now.
Speaking after the victory, trainer Ger Lyons said: “Now we can go to the Commonwealth and if we get beat, we get beat, but at least we know we are locked and loaded. It’s been a good day.”
Charlie Appleby’s Shadow Of Light (4/1) was only a length adrift of stablemate Ruling Court in the opening Classic of 2025, but his future could be going back down in distance, with the colt trading around the 4/1 mark in our Royal Ascot odds for the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup.
Of the others, an each-way shout can be given to the Amo Racing-owned Arizona Blaze (14/1) who won the Prix Sigy at Chantilly by an impressive two and a half lengths.
Adrian Murray’s charge showed top-class form as a juvenile last season, culminating in a half a length second place in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He can lead them a clean pair of hooves over this fast Royal Ascot sprint event.
Royal Ascot 2025 Antepost Tips:
- Courage Mon Ami E/W @ 14/1 (Ascot Gold Cup)
- Arizona Blaze E/W @ 14/1 (Commonwealth Cup)
You can read our ante post preview for the Royal Hunt Cup and Wokingham Stakes here.
*Odds subject to change – prices accurate at time of writing*
