Who are the three favourites at Royal Ascot this year that could make or break the bookmakers week.
Royal Ascot 2025 is nearly upon us, and with the final declarations taking shape, three horses are dominating the betting markets and giving bookmakers across the board sleepless nights.
All three are short in the betting, popular with punters, and bring serious form to the table.
Here are the three Royal Ascot favourites the layers will be watching with growing concern.
Three Favourites to Back at Royal Ascot
Rosallion – Queen Anne Stakes (11/4)
Rosallion is 11/4 with BetMGM in the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday.
In the last 30 days on Oddschecker, Rosallion has attracted 39% of all bets in the Queen Anne Stakes market.
The Queen Anne Stakes a Group 1 all-age contest, will start Royal Ascot off with a bang. And Rosallion is threatening to make the perfect start for favourite backers on day one.
A Royal Ascot winner already, having landed last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes, Rosallion returns to the scene of his victory with a clear target and a prep run that should have blown away the cobwebs. He shaped well for a long way in the Lockinge Stakes and wasn’t knocked about once beaten — exactly the sort of performance you’d expect from a horse building towards a big one.
Crucially, he boasts a flawless record at Ascot (2-2), and trainer Richard Hannon has been open about how much the Queen Anne has been the plan all spring. He’s among Timeform’s highest-rated older horses in training and with Notable Speech potentially unsuited by the straight mile, Rosallion looks primed to pounce.
Field Of Gold – St James’s Palace Stakes (5/6)
Field of Gold is a best price of 5/6 with Ladbrokes in the St James's Palace Stakes on Tuesday.
In the last 30 days on Oddschecker, Field Of Gold has received 45% of total bets for the St James’s Palace Stakes.
You don’t often see odds-on shots in Royal Ascot Group 1s, but Field Of Gold has forced the market’s hand after a pair of scintillating runs this season in the 2000 Guineas and the Irish equivalent.
Beaten only by bad luck in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, he made no mistake at the Curragh — bounding clear in the Irish 2,000 Guineas by almost four lengths. His turn of foot that day was electric, stamping him as not just a top three-year-old miler, but a potential star in the making.
The round mile at Ascot looks tailor-made for his style. Provided he gets the splits when needed, Field Of Gold should assert his dominance in the St James’s Palace Stakes, and punters certainly seem to think so — he’s been backed into 5/6 favourite and remains one of the shortest-priced horses of the entire week.
If there’s one colt the bookmakers will be desperate to see turned over, it’s him.
Zarigana – Coronation Stakes (7/4)
Zarigana is a best price of 7/4 with William Hill to win the Coronation Stakes on Friday.
In the last 30 days on Oddschecker, Zarigana has taken 26% of all bets in the Coronation Stakes.
Trained in France but backed as if she’s a home-grown banker, Zarigana has emerged as the chief threat in the Coronation Stakes and has attracted strong early support.
The daughter of Siyouni has only been beaten once in her five-race career, and that was a narrow loss in last year’s Prix Marcel Boussac. Since then, she’s returned with a win in the Prix de la Grotte and was then given the victory in the steward's room in the French 1,000 Guineas after finishing a nose behind on the track.
Stylish, slick, and ideally suited to a quick surface, Zarigana brings a blend of speed and class that could make her extremely dangerous on Ascot’s stiff mile. Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard has already tasted success in the Coronation before — with Watch Me in 2019 — and he knows how to ready one for this target.
With a rapidly shortening price and a profile that screams Group 1 talent, Zarigana has become a major liability for layers ahead of Friday’s feature.
