Royal Ascot Day 2 Tips 2026: Three Top Tips For Wednesday

After a star studded day one of Royal Ascot  day two has a lot to live up to but thankfully the racecards look packed with potentially exciting contests. The Prince Of Wales's should be a race for the ages and is of course the feature, but there are plenty of other epic races on the supporting card and Billy Grimshaw has another three bets worthy of consideration...

15:05 Royal Ascot - Queen's Vase

I couldn't find a bet in the opening race, the Queen Mary, but did find my punting boots for this race, a Group 2 over a mile and six furlongs. LIMESTONE produced a gutsy and classy win over three furlongs shorter than this at the Curragh last time out in a listed race and Joseph O'Brien's colt looks way overpriced at double the odds of the favourite Galiyan. The trainer's stock, over both disciplines, continues to soar and after Thundering On stunned the racing world with her awesome Oaks success plenty are expecting the team to have a big Royal Meeting and further breakout as a juggernaut of an operation.

Galiyan did what he had to do at Chester to win his maiden in good style, but I would prefer Limestone's win as a piece of form. There were some comments that Limestone looked a little small in the paddock last time out, but it certainly did the gutsy frontrunner no harm and outside of Ryan Moore I don't think there are many better riders off the front end than Dylan Browne McMonagle. Although this is a step into the unknown trip wise, it is the same for the majority of the field in here and what you want to see for one about to attempt the stiff Ascot finish is battling quality. Limestone has that in abundance.

At double figure odds I also thought Del Maro was worth a mention for Godolphin, particularly if the boys in blue start fast on Tuesday. Unlike Limestone, he is a huge strapping colt and looks almost certain to stay this trip. 14/1 is a bit of an insult, albeit he'll have to improve markedly for the step up in trip.

17:00 Royal Ascot - Royal Hunt Cup

The big betting handicap of the whole week is the Royal Hunt Cup and there will be bookies falling over themselves to offer the most extra places in what will be, as always, a fiendishly competitive race. Finding reasons to cut horses off your shortlist is a good place to start in races like this and as such it is worth noting only horses aged four and five have won the race in the last decade. That cuts a few of the 30 out of the equation, but I am not as committed to ruling anything out for the draw solely as over the last decade, the perceived high draw bias has not really played out.

What I think you do want in the Royal Hunt Cup is to find a grouping of horses that'll be pacesetting and either back one of them if you think they're speedy enough to hold on, or more likely a closer who can track them and swoop late. This year, I believe there is a cluster in the middle who will blaze a trail and they could well be taken along by the rapid Linwood, who has the jockey most synonymous with late swoops but also good off the front Jamie Spencer in the plate. Cerulean Bay and Classic are close by and are no slouches too, while Archivist also has a history of making it. They are in 16, 19, 22 and 18 respectively and my big priced fancy SKUKUZA is nestled beautifully between them all in 17.

He blew his chance at Epsom racing freely with nothing around him to aim at, but certainly won't have that problem in this race given the speedballs around him. He comes good this time of season, finishing half a length second in the 2024 Britannia and winning twice at the Curragh this time last season. Things have not been great since, however he is better than he has been showing of late, has course and distance form and should have this race run perfectly to suit. He should not be 50/1 given all that is in his favour and with 8 places available each-way in a place, I am quite sweet on him at least getting into that extended frame.

18:10 Royal Ascot - Windsor Castle Stakes

Although this looks a tricky renewal for the final race of the day, I am quite sweet on the chances of the favourite for Moore and O'Brien, who have combined for three winners in the last decade in this race. SERGEI DIAGHILEV is regally bred, as are plenty in here to be fair, and only won his maiden by half a length but it was the manner in which the penny clearly dropped for her midway through the race and once it did, she was a different proposition.

We know these Ballydoyle blue blooded two year olds come on a bucket for their debut run so for him to have won when doing a lot wrong indicates he is potentially out of the very top draw. 5/2 s skinny enough, but I am a big believer in when you see something out of the ordinary you should have faith in what you think you've seen. On form, there is an argument Controlla should be heading the market here and she is certainly the horse I fear most. She will get a lot shorter should her conqueror on debut at Naas Victorious bolt up in the Queen Mary!

I'd prefer Sergei's draw in two to hers in fifteen, however, and would imagine Ryan Moore will find a horse to take him into the race for the majority of the contest before pushing the button. If the jolly can respond as well as he did on debut, or better as we should expect, to said button being pushed, he will take a whole world of stopping. Of course, there could be any number of all time greats in here yet to strut their stuff, but anything north of 2/1 will do me on Sergei Diaghilev.