Royal Ascot Live Blog – Day 1

9.25: Welcome to Royal Ascot, the start of five days of high quality racing. Throughout the week, we will bring you news, tips and analysis to help you get the most from your betting.

The first race starts at 2.30 and the official going description is ‘good to soft’. Ascot avoided any overnight rain and the weather is set fair. At 8am on Tuesday, the Going Stick readings were:

Stands side - 8.1
Centre - 8.3
Far side - 8.1
Round - 7.4

Comparing these with historical readings, the Straight Course is riding just on the easy side of good, with the Round Course comparable with past ‘good to soft’ descriptions.

It certainly isn’t a bog but horses who are at their best on good to firm ground might find themselves disadvantaged. Sole Power (3.05 Ascot) is one of those. All his winning has come on good to firm or polytrack and the 2010 Nunthorpe winner is out to 11/1 (Paddy Power) for the King’s Stand.

10.00: If you are looking for a bet at Royal Ascot our resident horse racing tipster has three selections, including a 66/1 shot in the 3.05.

10.23: Make sure you shop around when you are placing your bets. We have listed the bookmakers offering enhanced each-way terms. Also, make sure to use our odds comparison site to get the best price.

11.02: The betting markets at Royal Ascot are robust, but these are the early movers:

2.30 Frankel +1.41%
3.05 Masamah +0.5%
3.45 Born To Sea +1.11%
4.25 Sir Prancealot +3.3%
5.00 Cosimo De Medici +1.4%
5.35 Ajmany +0.92%

11.54: The most tipped horse by the newspaper tipsters is Sir Prancealot (4/1 Coral) who runs in the 4.25. An impressive winner at Sandown on his last start, he showed a tremendous finishing kick to overcome interference in running.

Other popular horses are Little Bridge (12/1 Bet365) in the 3.05 and Power (4/1 Bet365) in the 3.45.

13.30: An hour to go until the first race and Frankel is being backed. Some big hitters obviously not put off by the short price, with only Stan James showing 1/6. 

14.07: The bookmakers aren’t giving anything away to the each-way thieves in the first race at Royal Ascot. Excelebration is a best price 11/2 (Bet365) to back each-way but 15/1 win only on Betfair, with Frankel seemingly unbeatable.

14.23: Frankel is 1/2 (Coral) to win by 3 lengths or more, a margin of victory he has achieved in 7 of his 10 races. Under 3 lengths is 7/2 with Skybet.

14.41: Frankel demolishes the field to win by 11-lenghts. If you don’t have a widescreen TV you probably missed Excelebration back in second. Good news for our racing tipster who stole some of that free money from Bodog, with the runner-up.

14.55: Sole Power is being backed for the next race, the King’s Stand, 8/1 (Bet365) from 11s this morning. Backers will be hoping the ground is riding quicker than the official description, although it is hard to use Frankel’s time as a benchmark.

Our tipster has gone for the outsider Caledonia Lady, currently 50/1 with Betfred.

15.21: With Masamah withdrawn from the stalls in the King’s Stand, the pace ended up being low and the race developed up the middle to far side. Little Bridge wins from stall 6 but Sole Power unlucky, finishing third from stall 22.