Royal Ascot 2026: Tips for Friday, June 19

By Kevin Blake

The Commonwealth Cup (15:05) always attracted a huge field of three-year-olds sprinters and this year is no different. The Karl Burke-trained Venetian Sun is a very short price after her impressive win in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock, but she looks too short to me in a race that is deeper than the market suggests. 

The one I like at the prices is the Aidan O’Brien-trained CHARLES DARWIN. The son of No Nay Never looked a tremendous sprinting prospect when beating the subsequent Group 1 winner Wise Approach in the Norfolk Stakes at this meeting last year, but a setback ruled him out for the rest of the season after that. He returned to action with a straightforward win at Navan, but seemed to blot his copybook with a poor run in a Group 3 at Naas last time. However, Ryan Moore reported that he hit a ridge and lost his action, after which he was eased down, so it is a run that can be forgiven. 

Take out that run and he is likely to have been amongst the leading contenders for this race. First-time blinkers have been applied and he looks overpriced.

The Sandringham Stakes (17:00) is yet another brutally competitive handicap and I’m siding with the Donnacha O’Brien-trained GLYFADA. 

The daughter of Camelot has won two of her three starts to date, but what was most notable about her most recent victory in a winner’s race at Killarney was how well suited she seemed to be by the drop back to a mile. She is quite a fast-striding filly and the potential was there for her to be suited by it, but she really did seem to relish it. 
A race like this that promises to offer a lot of pace and cover in front of her promises to really suit her and it wouldn’t surprise to see her take a significant jump forward in terms of improvement. She is a fascinating contender.

The King Edward VII Stakes (17:35) brings together some promising three-year-olds with the clear pick of them in my mind being the Aidan O’Brien-trained CAUSEWAY. 

The son of Wootton Bassett has proven to be relentlessly progressive in his career thus far. His trainer has only asked him to take relative baby steps this season, starting off a win in handicap company over seven furlongs in the Madrid Handicap before progressing to win a Listed race over a mile at the Curragh and then returning to that venue to win the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes last time. 

At all times he has shown himself to be a slow strider with a lazy demeanour that always had the clear potential to end up over this trip of a mile-and-a-half. He is a very likeable colt and I’m surprised that he isn’t the favourite for this race.

Commonwealth Cup
Charles Darwin 

Sandringham Stakes
Glyfada 

King Edward VII Stakes
Causeway