A Placepot Perm Could Be the Best Bet on Royal Ascot Day 1
Lead Artist and Field Of Gold are Day 1 Placepot bankers in our 200-line perm at Royal Ascot.
Field Of Gold (right) narrowly failed to catch Ruling Court (white cap, centre) in the 2000 Guineas. © Getty Images
Key Facts:
- A Placepot bet is a fun way to enjoy Day 1 of Royal Ascot 2025.
- Banker selection Field Of Gold can reverse 2000 Guineas form.
- Horses drawn in high stalls could be favoured in the King Charles III Stakes.
- Jumps trainers are likely to dominate the Ascot Stakes once again.
Field Of Gold can take revenge on his 2000 Guineas conqueror Ruling Court in race four on the opening day of Royal Ascot 2025, the St James’s Palace Stakes. The contest is one of three Group-1 contests on the day and one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the meeting.
Punters face no easy task in many races, with the day’s seven races featuring an average field size of 17. However, the UK’s best online gambling sites will offer many betting opportunities on the world’s most celebrated race meeting, giving armchair viewers plenty of chances to spin a profit.
While Field Of Gold is confidently expected to land the 4.20 pm contest, most races have a wide-open look. Under the circumstances, each-way, place only, and the tote speciality bet, the Placepot, could be the best way to get involved with the action.
Here, we have made selections for the first six races on Ascot’s Tuesday card for a Placepot perm. The bet requires bettors to find a horse that is placed in all of the contests. Those that do will share part of the Placepot’s tote dividend. Thankfully, more than one selection can be made in any of the races.
2.30 pm – Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1)
Frankel famously won this contest by 11 lengths in 2012. There is no Frankel in this year’s field – he was unbeaten in his career, but jockey Colin Keane will wear the same white, pink and green silks when partnering with Lead Artist.
Unraced as a two-year-old, this son of a Group-1 placed mare won twice at Group-3 level in his first season and most recently took Newbury’s Group-1 Lockinge Stakes with a battling performance.
Three of his rivals that day reoppose on Tuesday. With Lead Artist’s improving profile and his trainers (officially handled by John and Thady Gosden) impressive 2025 strike rate with 4-plus year-olds on turf (33 per cent winners to runners), Lead Artist is expected to go close in this valuable contest.
3.05 pm – Coventry Stakes (Group 2)
Twenty-one horses will thunder down Ascot’s six-furlong straight for this contest restricted to two-year-olds. Most have had just one or two outings in public, and the top six in the betting have won their seven starts.
All eyes will be on horses trained by the powerhouse stables brimming with regally-bred bloodstock. Should the runners trained by Aidan O’Brien, Charlie Appleby, et-al misfire, the Placepot pool will be decimated, and the dividend to a £1 stake/unit will be handsome.
American Gulf, Underwriter, Rock On Thunder and Bone Marra are all one-from-one for their British trainers and can potentially upset some apple carts. It is these four that are going into our Placepot slips.
3.40 pm – King Charles III Stakes (Group 1)
This is a wide-open 23-runner sprint where no horse can be discounted despite the contest carrying Group-1 stature and attracting the world’s finest horses – at the world’s leading meeting.
Good-to-firm going suggests horses capable of being up with the pace from the outset will have an advantage. Likewise, the horses drawn in a high-numbered starting stall (stand side) could be slightly favoured.
Therein, our selections are: Regional, Starlust, American Affair, West Acre and Tropical Storm.
4.20 pm – St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)
Field Of Gold did not get a great ride when narrowly beaten by Ruling Court in the 2000 Guineas, but he bounced back to take the Irish version over a mile three weeks later. Ruling Court was due to run in the Derby over 12 furlongs, suggesting eight furlongs may not be his optimum trip.
Field Of Gold is a confident Placepot selection. We can only hope it is an outsider that chases him home in this seven-runner race as that will see a significant number of Placepot tickets fall by the wayside.
5.00 pm – Ascot Stakes
A marathon of two miles and four furlongs, the Ascot Stakes is regularly targeted by jumps horses from top National Hunt stables. Willie Mullins won this race four times between 2012 and 2018 and trained his favourite, Reaching High, this year.
However, this runner, owned by The King & Queen, is having only its second run for the stable and has never jumped a hurdle in public. Furthermore, he has never raced beyond 14 furlongs.
Therefore, we will opt for Mullins’ top juvenile hurdler, Poniros, and East India Dock (trained by James Owen). The latter finished third in the Triumph Hurdle at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and showed his class by winning the Chester Vase on the flat at the beginning of May.
5.35 pm – Wolferton Stakes
There are 16 runners for this Listed contest. The leading online bookmakers quote the favourite, Enfjaar, on 4/1 odds. Underlining the competitive nature of this contest, ten of its rivals are priced 16/1 or shorter.
With no wish to make the final leg of the Placepot only to fail at the final obstacle, we are taking a ‘cluster bomb’ approach to this contest with five selections. They are: Ambiente Friendly, Military Order, Kings Gambit, Meydaan and Liberty Lane.
Placepot Selections by Race Number:
- Lead Artist
- American Gulf, Underwriter, Rock On Thunder, Bone Marra
- Regional, Starlust, American Affair, West Acre, Tropical Storm.
- Field Of Gold
- Poniros, East India Dock
- Ambiente Friendly, Military Order, Kings Gambit, Meydaan and Liberty Lane
1x4x5x1x2x5 = 200 Placepot Lines
