Royal Ascot Day 4 Tips 2026: Friday's Best Bets For Ascot Card

Friday at Royal Ascot often has a carnival atmosphere as the week draws closer to its finale, but make no mistake the racing is taken as seriously as all other days at the biggest flat meeting of them all. As well as huge Group 1s in the Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes, there are punting puzzles aplenty to solve and Billy Grimshaw has a couple worth considering in the big field handicaps...

15:40 Royal Ascot - Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes

It's not surprising to see Hopewell Rock has been backed into near favouritism in some places after the two horses ahead of him at Newmarket finished 1-2 earlier in the week in the same order in the Copper Horse on Tuesday. That is as strong a nod form wise as you are likely to ever get, however if he is as keen as he was on that run on seasonal debut, he could be treading water come the finish line in a race that is sure to be run at a searching gallop. He is in eight which would've been a negative for this race a few years ago, however the draw bias seems to have diminished somewhat with all of the last three winners drawn in single digits.

Opportunity in the same silks is the market leader and I may well have been with him were he not drawn box 1. Over the last decade it still is better to be middle to high and that slot is just a nightmare position to start in. James McDonald will have to blast off from there to not risk being trapped, and even if he does the record of horses who've tried making it is woeful in this. I am looking for something that will stalk the pace and that has led me to REGAL ULIXES for Andrew Balding, who shaped better than the bare result at York last time out.

He was done for pace on the Knavesmire but has a furlong more to travel here and a stiffer finish, which I'm hoping plays to his strengths. I like the draw in 20 as he'll have Dain Ma Nut In taking him along for most of the race. He was only a few lengths off the much shorter in the market Warrant Holder but has a swing of six pounds in the weights, a better draw and is at a track that should suit better so I am hopeful he can at least land us some each-way money. 

17:00 Royal Ascot - Sandringham Stakes

The fillies get their go over the straight mile in a big field and, again, I want to be on something drawn middle to high. That is even more crucial in this particular race compared to some others where I'll be paying close attention to the draw, as it looks like the majority of potential pacesetters - I'm thinking Brigid's Well, Harlequin Angel and Lyrics Of Life in particular - are in boxes  north of 22. 

Six of the last ten winners have been held up and while there have been low drawn horses that have tasted glory, in no renewal has there been a race with so much pace congregated together on the favoured side of the course. Attempting to choose which filly will appreciate the conditions of the race most was no mean feat, as for all there are plenty who'll be crying enough when the climb to the finish begins  there are loads who look the type who will. Gavin Cromwell's Quiet Mutiny is in box 26 and will almost certainly relish this step up to a stiff mile after her latest run over seven saw her best work all done in the dying strides. 

Symbol Of Majesty is in 21 for the Gosden team and was definitely better than the bare result at Wolverhampton last time out, suffering with no pace to run at. She won't have that problem here! Passing Thought represents the Ed Walker team who won the race last year and her Wetherby win on her latest run was a perfect prep for this, however I am drawn to another last time out winner who only settled things in the dying embers of the race, running for man of the moment Joseph O'Brien: GREEN CARRERA.

She battled her way to a Curragh success last time out which was a massive step back in the right direction back over a mile. With Ascot's stiff finish, those battling qualities will be of paramount importance and considering the week her handler is having she should not be 20/1. She is a well built daughter of Lope De Vega and providing Joseph has tidied up her alertness from the gates, I think she'll be bang there come the finish.