By James Flaherty  As we look forward to the Olympics of flat racing, my advice to punters ahead of Royal Ascot is not to allow the International flavour and other entertainment sideshows fool you. While it may be a kaleidoscope of colour, Royal Ascot is devilishly difficult as a betting medium. In Formula one terms, it could be compared to when a track suddenly receives a downpour of rain, and the level of difficulty instantly increases. It is certainly far more difficult than its National Hunt counterpart in the Cotswolds, but most other big meetings in general. As well as the usual variables associated with this sport, Royal Ascot has huge fields which are extremely competitive. The draw can also be a huge factor (and can change during the week), while there are the inevitable hard luck stories as a result of traffic problems. Now that I’ve gotten all the excuses out nice and early, I will hopefully be able to guide you to some winners during the week, with the below angles that have been profitable over the last five Royal Ascot meetings. There is a theme running through them as they tend to produce winners and places at nice prices, supporting my cautious strategy at this meeting. Ed Walker’s big Royal Ascot last year was coming to him Ed Walker’s five-year record at this meeting clearly benefits from his big haul here a year ago, when he saddled two winners (25/1 and 20/1) and a second (80/1) from his eight runners. Such small sample sizes can be dangerous when analysing data, but the underlying numbers in previous years suggest that he may be a developing trend at this meeting, rather than a one hit wonder. He is profitable to back blind at level stakes each-way in three of the last four years, with four winners and five further places from twenty-five runners in that time. 2022 was the first sign that his runners were noteworthy here when three of his five runners placed, all of them at double-figure prices. They included Random Harvest who was a neck second at 40/1! He continued that fine run into the 2023 meeting when he produced a winner and a second from just four runners and even though 2024 wasn’t quite as fruitful despite getting a winner, the 2025 success was a few years in the making. He has also gradually increased the team he sends here, with eight runners at the meeting in each of the last two years. His overall profit figure since 2021 is £67.26 to a £1 each-way stake at Industry SP, resulting in a return on investment of 116%. This ROI is marginally higher than the win only ROI which is currently at 111.5%, as a result of a profit of £32.33 from the twenty-nine runners. It is really a matter of personal preference which way one decides to play his runners here. Those at big prices do seem to offer excellent each-way value considering 34.5% of his runners hit the frame here to standard terms. He seems like a good place to start for small stakes plays at big odds, when all factors are considered.   Record of Ed Walker’s runners at Royal Ascot 2021-2025 Year Runners Winners Places Expected Wins P/L to £1 win at SP P/L to £1 win and place at SP 2021 4 0 1 0.45 -£4.00 -£3.00 2022 5 0 3 0.23 -£5.00 +£9.80 2023 4 1 1 0.19 +£4.00 +£7.80 2024 8 1 0 0.66 -£3.67 -£9.84 2025 8 2 1 0.39 +£41.00 +£62.50 TOTAL 29 4 6 1.92 +£32.33 +£67.26   Harry Eustace out to enhance brilliant record at the Royal meeting While it is an even smaller sample size, regular readers know how much I love Harry Eustace as a trainer, and I’m fully backing him to build on his exceptional record at this meeting, despite still being in the primitive years of his training career. Of course, he remarkably won with his very first runner at this meeting in 2022 when Latin Lover won the Holyroodhouse Stakes Handicap. Since then, his record isn’t bad either (tongue very much in cheek) as his overall tally reads four winners and four places from just twelve runners. This record was very evident last year, when his form figures for his four runners at the meeting read 1521. When one considers that the fifth was beaten less than two lengths and the second beaten just a neck, it really was quite a brilliant effort. He managed to win two Group 1 contests too, capping a dream week at the biggest meeting of the year. How does that translate in terms of profit? Well, his twelve runners at this meeting have produced a profit of £42 to a £1 win stake at SP, or £57.05 for £1 each-way. Those figures result in ROI percentages of 350% and 237.7% respectively, while his actual/expected wins ratio figure is 4.17 times. Wathnan and Burke are worth noting both individually and combined Wathnan Racing have taken this meeting by storm since 2023, when they got the taste for it with two winners from just three runners. They have managed nine more winners over the last two years, with plenty more hitting the frame and as I write this column the “spending spree” ahead of Royal Ascot 2026 is well underway. While backing their runners last year at this meeting would have resulted in a marginal loss despite them having five winners, the overall profit to a £1 win stake at BSP since 2023 is £39.03, with that figure rising to £74.73 at £1 win and place. Despite producing a small loss to level stakes last year, they still outperformed market expectation with their actual/expected ratio just over 1, at 1.15 times. Since 2023, their A/E figure is 1.40 times, so while the market picks up on them early, it tends to over adjust on the day and they become “value” again. That is certainly the case with their two-year-olds who have defied huge drifts on the day and won. Leovanni, in the 2024 Queen Mary, a prime example as she drifted through the day from a single-figure price to an SP of 22/1. Her BSP was a quite remarkable 34.54!!! Their juveniles are worthy of particular attention with three winners and three more hitting the frame from fourteen runners. They have produced a level stakes profit of £44.28 to a £1 win and a staggering £79.90 to £1 win and place. Both producing excellent ROI figures, and the A/E was 2.26 times. When discussing juvenile winners at Royal Ascot, it would be folly not to at least mention Karl Burke, even if I have done so before in this column. He is, along with Aidan O’Brien, my first port of call in those contests when assessing the potential runners. Since 2021, Burke has trained five winners in juvenile contests from thirty attempts, resulting in a profit of £77.64 to a £1 win stake at BSP. That is a fair strike rate considering the open and competitive nature of these contests and while he often has fancied runners in recent years, they tend to win at big prices. Those five winners have included Holloway Boy at an SP of 40/1 and Leovanni for Wathnan Racing who was returned a 22/1 winner of the Queen Mary. The expected wins figure for those thirty runners in juvenile contests was just 2.83, so they are clearly still outperforming the market (A/E ratio of 1.77) even if his juveniles are well flagged now. In 2024 and 2025, the three winners produced an actual/expected ratio of 3.26 times. While both Wathnan and Karl Burke are profitable to follow individually, when they do team up with juveniles at this meeting they have produced exceptional results. This partnership is still in its infancy, and they have only had five juveniles run at this meeting, but two winners from those five suggest it is an owner/trainer combination worth following.   Record of Karl Burke’s two-year-olds at Royal Ascot 2021-2025 Year Runners Winners Expected Wins P/L to £1 win at BSP 2021 5 0 0.28 -£5.00 2022 5 2 0.64 +£40.70 2023 6 0 0.99 -£6.00 2024 6 2 0.32 +£46.54 2025 8 1 0.60 +£1.40 TOTAL 30 5 2.83 +£77.64   Frankel’s progeny worth watching, especially the less fancied ones As a student of racing which I very much am, I have paid more attention to learning about pedigrees in recent years. When I first researched them for this meeting, I was drawn to the record of horses sired by Frankel running over distances between ten and fourteen furlongs. While that remains a profitable angle since 2021 (+£42.08 to £1 win stake at BSP from forty-six runners), I have noticed that it seems to be the less fancied ones that really need to be supported. While his offspring clearly like it around here, they seem to be the ones that find improvement and are therefore underestimated in the market. If focusing on those that went off a double-figure price at this meeting in the same timeframe, that profit figure would rise to £54.59 to level stakes at BSP. That higher profit figure is from just twenty-seven qualifiers too, so a ROI of 202.2%. Furthermore, the three winners dramatically outperform the expected figure of just 1.2 winners. It is particularly worth noting any runners in the Copper Horse handicap, as he had a 1-2 in the race in 2021 with both sent off 33/1 and he had a 40/1 second in 2024. He also produced the winner of the race last year as a result of French Master obliging, even if he was the 5/2 favourite.