SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Royal Ascot Tuesday

Royal Ascot! There’s nothing quite like it, writes SIMON NOTT.

The pomp, the pageantry, the immense quality of horses out on the turf, and the betting frenzy that ensues once the royal carriages have passed the stands.

Before, in some cases, a whopper £40,000 – £50,000 Bow Echo in the feature bet early in the day started the meeting in style.

2:30 – Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) (Str) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Then the teams got to work on the first to a couple grand bets at 5/2 on Notable Speech and £4500 – £2000 and £14,000 – £4000 in the opener, it appeared the punters meant business. Once the King had been and gone the punters came out to play, £3000 at 9/4 struck in Tatts followed by £11,000 – £1000 Damysus on the same pitch.

Ben, betting on the rail with Pam and Dan, was using it as a PR platform meeting new clients and pressing the flesh down on the bottom rail; they’d been busy including a bet of £5000 – £2000 each-way.

All three books were linked, at the off they had taken £38,360 between them. Well, what can you say, Ten Bob Tony winning at 50/1 was an absolute dream result, though given a name like that not unbacked, the books won £19,500.

3:05 – Coventry Stakes (Group 2) (Class 1) (2YO only)

Next up and they bet 5/2 the field with Confucius heading the market. It didn’t last long; bets of £9000 – £4000 and £2250 – £1000 flew in after the last crumbs of 5/2 were snapped up by early birds. Over on the rail, they laid a bet of £50,000 – £2000 each-way The Ginger Kid to a punter off the floor, and before you all ask, no he wasn’t.

Other bets included £10,000 – £7000 Ruler’s Pride and £6500 – £1000 Great Barrier Reef. At the off, the books held £23,172 with Confucius a loser for £13,930, they got him beat, but by the worst winner in the book, Great Barrier Reef, but the places helped ultimately adding to a £4290 cop in the book.

3:40 – King Charles III Stakes (Group 1) (Class 1) (3YO plus)

It didn’t take long for the next heat to get lively, down on the lower rail Lofty, Ricky and Flynn took a bet of £2500 each-way at 22/1 Rosy Affair, that was their moment of glory, elsewhere bets £2200 – £400 and £5000-£1000 Night Raider were struck then £15,000 – £2000 Rayevka then they came for Overpass £14,000 – £4000 and £7000 – £2000 struck as well as a couple of carpets at Birlington in what was a busy race with lots of horses laid.

One that wasn’t laid to any significant amounts was 14/1 winner and Ryan Moore’s mount Mission Central.

The book had held £24,655 and still held £20,505 once the punters had been paid.

4:20 – St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1) (Rnd) (Class 1) (3YO only)

Next up and the already heavily publicised bet of £40,000 – £50,000 struck Bow Echo had already made the Racing Post. Bets that followed included a further £6000 and several £1000 and monkeys at evens and 10/11 on the jolly, though there was also money for Gstaad including £2000 and £1500 at 9/4, £1500 and £1000 at 2/1. The only other one laid was Talk Of New York, which attracted a bet of £3500 – £700.

A late £10,000 – £11,000 hedging money down on the lower rail added to the total, but that bet was dwarfed by the last bet in the book on the lower rail from a racecourse face £100,000 – £110,000.

At the off, the book jolly was a loser for over £180,000. After Bow Echo won in a nail-biting, agonising close short head victory, the actual figure was £180,563. The deflation on the team was palpable, time to take a combined deep breath.

5:00 – Ascot Stakes (Heritage Handicap) (GBBPlus Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus)

The dust settled, the senior ranks in the firm made quiet exits and ITV made for Kaan and the lowdown on the £180,000 loss on the race. As often happens after the feature race, the punters started to drift off, or at least not bet with the gusto they had been.

Having said that, this is Royal Ascot bets £15,000 – £500 Defiantly, £5000 – £500 Small Fry, £10,000 – £800 Galileo Game, and plenty of smaller bets the jolly Reaching High.

At the off, the book held £14,452, 25/1 shot Kizlyar beat Defiantly in a photo, you have to feel for that punter, the book copped £6602 which was £4000 more than that before the places had been taken into account, still it was a small step back in the right direction.

5:35 – Wolferton Stakes (Listed) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

The betting on the penultimate was very poor, bear in mind these figures are coming from three pitches that held £7599 between them, with just one noted bet £7000 – £500 Wimbledon Hawkeye which became one of three losers for over £4000.

The book kept £67.45 (there is a decimal point there) when 13/2 chance Map Of Stars won the race from Wimbledon Hawkeye. Kaan quite observantly commented that it would be a long way back at this rate. Small steps.

6:10 – Copper Horse Stakes (Handicap) (GBBPlus Race) (Class 2) (4YO plus)

The hope was the lucky last would pick up a bit, it was after all the getting out stakes. There were some decent bets £2500 Valiancy, an early £3000 – £500 each-way Gamrai followed by a later £4500 – £1000 the same beast.

Keiran, Sophie, Kaan and Tony were still tapping away in Tatts while Noah had jumped up with his uncle Dan and Pat to replace Ben and Eddie from up north had taken over on the lower rail from Inlike.

Valiancy continued to be a popular bet, one punter might have had a couple too many after betting £2000 on the jolly at 11/4, only for Dan, Pam and Noah to find it was £40 light when they’d finished spinning it, so the bet was reentered as a £1960 as he’d already left the pitch.

At the off, the book held £16,924 with Valiancy losing £23,983 in the win book.

The book won £11,180 in the win book when 11/2 chance Daiquiri Bay won the race, elevated to £11,248 after the places had been taken into account. That meant that the final figure on the day was a loss of £122,591, one more stride…

We’re back tomorrow.

Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS