From the milers of race one, to the speedballs. The Group 1 action continues to roll with race two at the Royal Ascot meeting which is always dripping in quality. Run over a frenetic five furlongs, the Kings Stand Stakes may have been with us for over 150 years now, but is really the most accidental of the Royal Ascot contests, only coming into being as the result of a shortening of a two mile contest due to part of the track becoming unraceable in 1860. Whatever its roots, it is now one of the premier sprint contests of the whole racing year. Here we look at the main contenders and provide our betting tips and predictions, as well as our time-saving live odds comparison.
2016 hero Profitable returns to defend his crown for Clive Cox, and those looking to back him to repeat the dose may find the best odds available right now pretty attractive for one who has been there and done it. This does however look an exceptionally hot race in 2023. Last year’s runner up Cotai Glory is just one who likely won’t go down without a fight and looking at the latest odds on offer is also available at a juicy price.
Standing in the way of Profitable, Cotai Glory, and indeed all the other colts in the field, are three flying fillies out of the very top drawer. Wesley Ward’s US speedball, Lady Aurelia, drew gasps of disbelief when making a mockery of the field in the Queen Mary Stakes here last here and if getting in the lead once again may take some pegging back.
Also hailing from the US, but now based at Aidan O’Brien’s all conquering Ballydoyle operation, Acapulco won that same Queen Mary contest back in 2015 and made a winning start for new connections at The Curragh. Last but not least of our jet-propelled fillies is Sir Mark Prescott’s Marsha. This one put up just about the sprinting performance of the season to date when giving weight and a beating to a good field in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket. The last filly to do that in that race was the brilliant Lochsong.
There’s not much between the three at the head of the market, as illustrated in our live odds comparison table, but overall it was hard not to be taken by the display of Marsha last time and we will be backing her to keep the prize on home soil.
The King’s Stand Stakes is the second Group One race on the first day of Royal Ascot, the five-day racing extravaganza that is the highlight of the Flat racing season for many. Whilst Ascot is very much about fashion, style and networking, there is no doubt that racing is centre stage and the King’s Stand Stakes is one of the real highlights. Read on as we offer up our predictions, betting tips and the best betting odds for this five furlong sprint.
That short distance, five furlongs being just 1006 metres and well short of a mile, was actually the result of bad weather 150 or so years ago! Back in 1860 torrential rain meant the Royal Stand Plate was reduced from its normal two miles and gradually the race evolved into the five furlong dash we have now. In its time it has been a Group Two contest having initially been classified as a Group One but it was upgraded again in 2008 and is now the fourth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge.
In recent times there has been no dominant trainer and the extremely short distance can make predicting the winner tricky, although Edward Lynam’s Sole Power won in 2013 and 2014. Sole Power will look to make it a hat-trick of wins and is currently heading the betting at odds of 5/1 with some bookies.
A little way back there are serious contenders in the shape of Brazen Beau (priced at best odds of 7/1 though generally closer to 5/1) and Mecca’s Angel, the latter on offer at odds of 10/1. At the age of eight Sole Power will be facing some much younger horses here and it’s also worth noting he has an entry for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
If he does look to make it three in a row he has to be respected but we predict age may just be catching up with the gelding and as such our main betting tip for the King’s Stand Stakes is the third favourite. Mecca’s Angel offers great value at double-digit odds and we think the Irish four-year-old can improve an already impressive 60% win rate here.