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Royal Ascot Dark Horses
Dave Orton shines a light on five interesting outsiders at the Royal Meeting in 2025, live on Sky Sports Racing.
At The RacesJun 12, 2025
Dave Orton shines a light on five interesting outsiders at the Royal Meeting in 2025, live on Sky Sports Racing.
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Luke Middlebrook's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Saturday, June 14, 2025.
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Royal Ascot 2025: Preview Guide, which includes stable tours, stats guides, and more.
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Royal Ascot 2025: Complete list of Stats Guides for Royal Ascot meet.
Run for the first time in 2020, this handicap for older horses over an extended 1m6f still needs time for trends to bed in, though it could be an insightful guide to Ebor again.
This will be the eighth year of the Wolferton being a Listed race (upgraded from a Listed handicap) over 1m2f on the round course, so new trends still need to bed in. Since the race lost its handicap status, five of the last six winners have been aged five or six, whereas four-year-olds previously fared much the best, so that’s a change worth noting.
Despite Reshoun winning at 66/1 four years ago, the Ascot Stakes has unquestionably been the most punter-friendly handicap at the meeting, with 13 of the last 16 winners sent off no bigger than 14/1, while in the last 35 years as a many as 23 winners could be found in the first six in the betting.
The Derby’s loss looks like being Royal Ascot’s gain as the 2000 Guineas winner, Ruling Court, is set to be re-routed here by Godolphin after he was a late withdrawal at Epsom on ground deemed unsuitable. For over 1m4f, anyway, given the stamina concerns.
Formerly known as the King’s Stand, again we look set to have an international flavour with last season’s Australian-trained winner, Asfoora, heading the ante-post market.
Aidan O’Brien is the most successful trainer in the race’s long history with 10 winners but, outside of the Chesham Stakes over 7f, he prefers to get two runs into two-year-olds that he sends to Royal Ascot.