Author: Russ

Royal Ascot 2026. The build-up to the meeting generated a greater sense of anticipation than usual. Bookmakers applied the ‘Haggas tax’ early, while Racing Post Pricewise tipster Tom Segal advised punters behind the paywall to snap up the 66/1 on offer for William Haggas to finish the week as top trainer. However, both history and the master…

Had you offered William Haggas at the start of the day Almeraq as the winner of the Group 1 Jubilee Stakes at 28/1 would be his only success from 13 runners he would have snapped your hand off even though the 4yo was the least expected and biggest price of all 13. That’s not to…

The Haggas horses continued to run to peak form on Friday. Division ran a great race finishing 3rd in the Commonwealth Cup, thankfully with a view to Saturday, partially dispelling the high draw bias. His habit of being slowly away is costing him a big prize but as always – in ‘William we trust’ and…

Thursday was a very good day with our only bet Earth Shot landing the Ribblesdale and our suspicion that Morshdi had gone backwards was unfortunately for connections correct. Hopefully some of you followed the tip I passed on for Moonfall in the Britannia in the morning update on Thursday, his young Australian jockey Zac Lloyd…

Buoyed by the first win of the meeting on Wednesday, Thursday will be the quietest day at Ascot this week for the Haggas team with only two runners declared. In the Ribblesdale Stakes at 4.20 Earth Shot faces 11 rivals including the Oaks runner up Legacy Link who is priced at 6/4 to go one…

Day 4 of Ascot and it is true to say the results for most of the first couple of days had been hard to take for Somerville Lodge followers. Scoville ran a huge race in the Hunt Cup and led to inside the final furlong before his refusal to settle and the draw cost him…

Day 1 Summary Although More Thunder ran well its worth a comment that his conqueror Ten Bob Tony the surprise winner was beaten 17L by Lake Forest at Haydock. Clearly there is minimal relevance to the form of the Queen Anne but I just wonder given the extent of improvement shown by Lake Forest since…

One of the key factors in enjoying a profitable Royal Ascot is distinguishing horses that have been trained to a meticulous plan to win a big prize from those that—even when owned by multi-millionaires—are merely “social runners.” I have prepared this article for Day 2 of the meeting before Tuesday’s results are known. Let us…

I will cover off the Monday runners and also a couple declared for Tuesday away from the Royal meeting before posting again with the information for Tuesday at Ascot. I have developed something of a love hate relationship with Another Abbot who has won three times for us in his career but also blotted his…

Sunday began with an eye-catching run by Venetian Sky finishing 4th in the 7f maiden at Doncaster who looked a future handicap winner in waiting. She should be left on her mark of 74 and a Class 4 handicap will be ideal next time out. Lilt couldn’t overcome her inexperience when a staying on 6th…