Royal Ascot Day 1 Superboosts 🐎🎩
Royal Ascot is one of the best and one of my favourite racing festivals of the year, I’ve ended up getting involved in all three of the main boosts available on Day 1:
✅ Notable Speech Top 3 Finish @ 2.00
✅ Confucius Top 3 Finish @ 2.00
✅ Bow Echo or Gstaad To Win @ 2.00
📊 Notable Speech Top 3 Finish @ 2.00
Notable Speech Top 3 Finish is trading around 18/25 (1.72) on the exchanges as of writing, implying a 58.14% probability, so the boosted odds of 1/1 (2.00) imply only 50% and suggest there is some value in the price.
Notable Speech is now a five-time Group 1 winner, including victories in the Lockinge Stakes. His overall record stands at:
1,4,1,1,2,5,4,4,3,5,1,7,1,1,1,1
meaning he’s finished in the first three in 10 of 16 career starts (62.5%).
Trainer Charlie Appleby is operating at a 36% strike rate over the last 14 days and believes the horse is “as good as he has ever been”. Jockey William Buick is operating at a 18% strike rate over the same period. The only slight concern is Ascot, where he’s finished 4th and 7th in two previous visits but I’d agree with Appleby’s perspective that he didn’t get the “rub of the green” on both occasions.
For a horse of this class, even money to simply hit the frame looks fair on paper.
📊 Confucius Top 3 Finish @ 2.00
Confucius Top 3 Finish is trading around 22/25 (1.88) on the exchanges, implying 53.19%, so there is some slight value in the boost.
He’s raced only twice, producing form figures of 1,2, and looked particularly impressive when winning at Naas by 3¾ lengths on his latest start.
The son of No Nay Never is the mount chosen by Ryan Moore despite stablemate Great Barrier Reef also lining up unbeaten, which catches the eye. Aidan O’Brien is operating at a 23% strike rate over the last 14 days, while Ryan Moore is running at 24%. Aidan O’Brien has won this prestigious race a record 11 times, 5 wins with Ryan Moore on board.
Recent Coventry Stakes trends also fit nicely. Confucius arrives off a win, has winning form over the trip, has raced only twice and won his latest start by over two lengths.
Slight value rather than a standout, but I can certainly see the case. Personally, I can’t call the winner between Confucius and Great Barrier Reef but wouldn’t be surprised to see a 1-2 for the Ballydoyle team.
📊 Bow Echo or Gstaad To Win @ 2.00
This is probably my favourite of the three boosts.
The market is dominated by Bow Echo and Gstaad, who look comfortably the two best horses in the race.
Bow Echo is unbeaten in four starts and produced a brilliant performance when beating Gstaad by almost three lengths in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Trainer George Boughey has since stated the colt has improved again and he now boasts a rating of 126.
Gstaad, meanwhile, is a Coventry Stakes winner, Irish 2000 Guineas winner and has form figures of:
1,2,1,2,2,2,1,1
He also scores slightly better on a number of St James’s Palace Stakes trends and arrives here after a more recent run.
Importantly, 11 of the last 12 winners were found in the top three of the betting, while both horses comfortably meet the key ratings, class and distance trends associated with recent winners.
For me, these are clearly the standout pair in the field and getting either of them to win at even money looks the strongest angle of the three boosts.
As always, don’t feel the need to back everything just because I have. Personally, Bow Echo or Gstaad To Win is the standout play for me, with Notable Speech Top 3 next best. Confucius looks fine at the price but probably has the least edge of the three.
Good luck if you’re getting involved 🍀