The Ascot Stakes is the penultimate race of day one at this year’s Royal Ascot and whilst it can’t compete with the three huge Grade 1s that come before it, it is still a classy and fascinating contest.
The betting is currently headed by Limini, Gwafa and Pique Sous, with little between them in our odds comparison. Limini is the favourite though and there is no doubting that Willie Mullins’ Irish mare is a class act.
She will be making her debut on the flat after a slightly disappointing jumps campaign and few would question anything Mullins does but odds of just 7/2 with Bet365 may be a shade short for us here.
Gwafa and Pique Sous are both priced at best odds of 6/1 and our preference is for the former. Gwafa is another who has been both sent out over jumps and raced on the flat but he has much more experience in this type of contest and has won one and placed three times from five outings on the flat.
Gwafa has never been tested over this distance and whilst that’s a slight concern, his running style and breeding suggest it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The gelding stayed on well when winning last time out and odds of 6/1 are certainly well worth getting involved with.
The Ascot Stakes is open to horses aged four and over and has traditionally been dominated by animals aged four or five. That said, three of the last six winners have been aged seven or over, including Mullins’ eight year old Clondaw Warrior last year.
That and other key trends mean that we don’t really rule any of the horses out this year. Our live odds comparison shows that all seven horses have a chance here, with Starchitect not out of it at odds of 12/1 but for us the value on the nose has to be Gwafa.