With this complete Royal Ascot Betting Guide, discover all you need to know about how to bet on Royal Ascot. You will find out where to look for the best range of betting markets and Royal Ascot betting tips and offers. Read on for all the Royal Ascot Betting information that you will need. Royal Ascot is one the most prestigious event in the world of horse racing and have had a thorough look at the meetings, providing an in-depth betting guide to help you along the way.
How to Bet on Royal Ascot 2021
Placing a bet
If you are new to horse racing and betting, try to follow these steps to enjoy the races.
- Look at the Racecard, the Racing Post or any other paper to select which horse you like the best.
- Choose whether you want to bet ‘To Win’ (the horse you select has to finish first) or ‘Each Way’ (the horse has to be placed – finish in the first 2, 3 or 4, depending on how many runners there are in the race). ‘Each Way’ is twice the cost, as you are placing one bet on the horse to win and a second bet on the horse to be placed.
The Royal Ascot meeting is one of the most eagerly anticipated in the horse racing calendar. This Royal Ascot betting guide will keep you up to date with everything you need to know about the centrepiece of this prestigious meeting. There are five days of high-quality flat racing – with a number of Grade 1 races including the Gold Cup and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Royal Ascot is scheduled to take place on June 15-19 at Ascot racecourse. It traditionally runs from Tuesday to Saturday, although the Saturday used to be run without the Royal moniker.
Royal Ascot tips will be available from many sources, including antepost tips from major tipping outlets in the weeks, even months leading up to the meeting. Royal Ascot Tuesday tips will tend to be published on the Monday evening, although declarations will be known from the Sunday morning. This pattern continues throughout the week, with final fields (declarations) known 48 hours in advance.
Photo by Dunphasizer is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Betting at Royal Ascot could hardly be easier. Bookmakers will give races at Royal Ascot prominent places on their websites, as it is one of the biggest betting meetings of the year. Many will also offer attractive sign-up offers for the week to get punters betting with them. There are plenty of betting opportunities including getting in early with the ante post Royal Ascot prices.
*Best Bookmakers to Bet on Royal Ascot
Bookmakers with the best offers, such as stake refunds (preferably as cash), are the ones to bet with at Royal Ascot. Smaller bookmakers often beat the big operators with their horse racing event offers.
Bookmakers will usually have great welcome offers right before the event. Before choosing a bookmaker to bet on Royal Ascot, you should always have a look at their features. For instance, do they offer live streaming, what ongoing promotions will they have and are their odds competitive.
2021 Royal Ascot Betting Guide
Unlike Cheltenham, where the markets form well in advance, some Royal Ascot betting markets will only take shape in the days before the race.
Therefore Royal Ascot tips, which can be stale at a meeting like Cheltenham where discussion has gone on for months, tend to be fresher and can contain a greater edge. These are the main aspects of the Royal Ascot betting guide you should be up to speed with, when placing your Ascot bets:
Royal Ascot Favourites – Ante Post
With just under a year to go until the meeting, there are not any Royal Ascot odds to take a look at to inform your bets. But there are still trends that you can follow to make sure that you are fully prepared. The Royal Ascot fixtures 2021 are already known so you can choose which races you want to have a flutter on.
Favourites are not always the way to go. But if you do like to back what is considered to be a sure-fire bet then look at the ante post Ascot odds for the St James Palace Stakes. Ten of the last 17 winners have been the bookies’ favourite going in.
Other Ascot Runners to Bet On
If you like a little more return on your bet then there are a number of races that are traditionally won by an outsider. Take a look at the Ascot ante post odds when they are released for the Queen Anne Stakes.
No horse has ever defended its crown so don’t worry about going for a returning winner if they are the favourite.
Royal Ascot Betting Tips
What’s fun and attractive when it comes to Ascot betting odds is that anything can happen. It is difficult to predict the winners but you might want to follow trends to work out your selections.
When it comes to the Kings Stand Stakes on the opening day of the meeting, whoever is leading the Ascot betting odds may be better to be avoided. The last winning favourite in the Ascot ante post prices was Scenic Blast in 2009. It obviously won’t always be the case but there might be more value looking further down the list.
With more than a month to go and hardly any turf racing having taken place, it is hard to get a grip on many Royal Ascot races. The exceptions would be the races mentioned above.
Gold Cup
Stradivarius is going for a third straight win in the race and is favourite again. He was beaten by Kew Gardens here on Champions Day and there is only a point between them for the Gold Cup. Stradivarius’ stamina, and turn of foot to get him out of trouble, mean he is a worthy favourite.
King’s Stand Stakes
Battaash is the best sprinter in Britain and has been for a couple of years, but he can be unpredictable. He tends to struggle when asked to keep a lid on for any amount of time, which means he has not always performed at Ascot, where the hill puts an extra emphasis on stamina that he does not encounter at, say, Goodwood. He can be opposed at what are likely to be cramped odds.
What Is the Current State of the Royal Ascot Ante-post Betting Market?
With so many unknowns at the moment, antepost betting is slow for Royal Ascot. When the markets do come out, they will be closer than usual to the races, but that is not to say the bookies will be any the wiser. There is also likely to be a lot more uncertainty in terms of runners, their readiness and even whether horses from abroad can compete. This creates opportunities for punters.
There are some races for which betting has been available for a long time. They are the King’s Stand Stakes on Tuesday, the Gold Cup on Thursday and the Commonwealth Cup on Friday. These races are offered first partly because they are certain targets for the big-name runners. A top middle-distance horse might as well run in the Eclipse as the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, for example.
How Should I Bet at Royal Ascot?
While you should generally bet as you normally would at Royal Ascot, there are some exceptions. Remember that this is one of the busiest betting weeks of the year, so bets which rely on his levels of audience participation, such as the Placepot or exchange markets, will be particularly ripe for playing in. The Placepot is a particularly popular bet during Royal Ascot week and it will almost always pay well.
ITV will not show all races, and some of the big handicaps, which have the greatest opportunity for punters to gain an edge.
If you are a multiples punter, especially one inclined to follow a specific high-profile trainer or jockey, be sure to avoid taking SP on your selections. Remember that these bets are very popular and that, say, Ryan Moore or Frankie Dettori having a string of winners is likely to have the bookies managing their liabilities, which they can do easily in swollen Royal Ascot betting marketing.
Royal Ascot Betting Markets
If you want to know how to bet on Royal Ascot then you need to know what kinds of bets you can make.
As with any horse racing meet, the ante post Royal Ascot prices are well worth checking out. You can find some real value selections here as there is still the potential for horses to pull out. If you want some longer odds then the ante post Ascot odds may be the way to go.
As for betting options, there are a number of main choices:
Single Bet
Sometimes referred to as a straight bet, this is where you predict the winner of a race. When the Royal Ascot odds 2021 are released you can make your selection way ahead of the big day and try to get the best value picks.
Each Way
A big favourite when it comes to Royal Ascot betting tips. If you want to know how to bet on Royal Ascot then you should consider an each-way bet. It doubles your stake a bit for those two bets you can win if your horse wins or just places. It gives you a really good chance of getting the most out of Royal Ascot odds for 2021.
Accumulator
With so many top-quality races each and every day, a lot of Royal Ascot betting guide will talk up the potential of an accumulator bet. It may not be the most sure-fire way of how to bet on Royal Ascot but a multiple bet – building up the odds – can turn out to be very profitable.
Types of Royal Ascot Bet Offers
Taking advantage of the best Royal Ascot betting offers can give you a good start in your betting activities for the event. There are many different types of Royal Ascot betting offers available, such as free bets and sign up offers. We’re going to take a look at some of the most popular Ascot betting deals shortly.
As with all bookmaker promotions, check the individual t’s and c’s of the Royal Ascot betting offers you’re taking. T’s and C’s can vary, depending on the Royal Ascot bet offers and the bookmaker you’ve chosen.
1. Royal Ascot Faller, Unseat Or Brought Down Offers
Fallers are common at Royal Ascot. Faller, Unseat and Brought Down offers can protect your stake if you’re unlucky enough to bet on a faller.
The terms and conditions of these Royal Ascot betting offers can vary. In general, though, these promotions will return your stake if your horse falls at any point in the race, the jockey is unseated or your horse is brought down by another.
A similar promotion to those mentioned here can include money back if your horse fails to get out of the stalls or refuses to start the race.
Considered by many to be amongst the best Ascot offers, many bookmakers have this offer available, or something similar.
2. Ascot Extra Place Special Offers
These types of Royal Ascot betting offers are applicable to Place and Each-Way betting in particular. Each-Way places are preset. They also depend on how many horses are in the race. Typically, in a ten-horse race, Sportsbooks will have their Each-Way places set to three.
As you can imagine from its name, this offer extends the numbers of extra places. If you place an E/W bet, you could still win if your horse finishes fourth or fifth.
3. Ascot Enhanced Odds Offers
In many Royal Ascot races, the favourite can often be extremely short-priced. Many previous Royal Ascot betting offers have shown that bookies are willing to greatly enhance the odds on these horses as a special offer.
So, a horse that is priced at 4/5 to win could have their odds increased to 30/1. In general, though, these Royal Ascot betting offers are only available to new customers. There is usually a maximum stake applicable too.
In terms of odds increases, many consider these promotions to be amongst the best Royal Ascot betting offers.
4. No Runner No Bet Offers
Non runners are reasonably common in horse racing. Some Royal Ascot betting offers can award you your stake back in the event of a non runner.
How these Royal Ascot betting offers work depends on your bookmaker. It’s an offer that could work well on cover and accumulator bets. For example, let’s say you place a five-fold accumulator. If one of your selections is a non-runner, this leg will become void.
This flexibility makes this promotion one of the best Royal Ascot offers available. You should be able to find this bonus offer at most online bookmakers.
5. Best odds guaranteed
If you take shorter odds than the starting price, you will be paid out at the bigger starting odds. Most firms do this all year round on British and Irish racing.
6. Pick a winner at 3/1, 4/1 or 5/1 and get a free bet
If you put money on a winner at the odds shown in the offer, the bookmaker will give you a free bet for the same stake to use later on the card.
7. 2nd Place Refunds
You get your money refunded up to a limit if your horse finishes second on the selected races.
8. 2 Clear Bonuses
Selected bookmakers will either give you a free bet or include a bonus on your returns should your selection win by two or more lengths.
9. 2nd by a Length or Less Refunds
Your money will be refunded in the form of credit or a free bet if your selection is beaten into second by a length of less.
10. 2nd by a Neck or Less Refunds
Your money will be refunded in the form of credit or a free bet if your selection is beaten into second by a neck of less.
11. 2nd to SP Fav Refunds
A bookmaker will refund your bet up to a certain limit if your selection finishes second to the favourite in selected races.
12. Free Bets for Lengths
Operators reward punters with free bets based on the number of lengths your winning horse has won by. The bigger the margin, the better the free bet(s).
13. If a Nominated Horse Wins, get a Free Bet
If a bookmaker’s selected horse wins the nominated race, punters whose horses finished in behind are rewarded with a free bet.
14. Bet through the Card Betting Offers
If you bet a selected amount on the first race on the card, some bookmakers will offer a smaller free bet for each of the remaining contests at the meeting.
Royal Ascot Betting History
There may be bigger individual races, but for prestige, pomp and ceremony there is not much bigger than Royal Ascot.
Held in the third week of June, the Ascot fixtures 2021 will already be marked in the diary for many race goers. The Royal family are huge fans of the meeting and are always in attendance.
Over 300,000 horse racing fans visit the racecourse over the week every year. This makes it the best-attended race meeting in the whole of Europe. But many more will be checking the Royal Ascot odds and looking for the value bets.
Dating back to 1911, Royal Ascot offers up to six races a day and bookmakers expect to take around £400 million during the five days. Much of that will be ante post Ascot selections. Learning how to bet on Royal Ascot can obviously can bring you a lot of fun, as plenty of things happen in those five days..
Key Betting Trends throughout history
Look out for international challengers at Royal Ascot. The big Irish stables are regular visitors through the British season, but it is only at Royal Ascot that the challenge fans out. French raiders, especially with three-year-olds, have a solid record, as do the precocious American two-year-olds.
It has historically been the case that sprinters from Australia and the Far East have an advantage over European sprinters, but this is not as pronounced as it used to be with the move towards speed in the European bloodstock industry in recent years.
*Best bookmakers and offers are based on the opinions of our writers only.
You might also like…
[mosaic tag=”betting_guide” post_type=”post,page” limit=”12″]
