Royal Ascot Day 3 Tips: Selections On Gold Cup Day

Royal Ascot 2025 hits it's half way point on Thursday and for many the most enthralling race of the week is the centrepiece of the day, the Gold Cup. Billy Grimshaw started with a bang on Day One and looks to continue his form on Day 3 of the Royal Meeting. Read on to see his three Thursday best bets...

15:05 Royal Ascot - King George V Stakes

Looking back over recent renewals of this race, it has certainly not hurt to be prominent and with that in mind I am quite sweet on SING US A SONG for Ralph Beckett, who of course won the race last season with Going The Distance at around the same price. The strapping Camelot colt is as yet untried past a mile and a quarter but judging by is run style and pedigree he is going to love this on fast ground and while being drawn 17 is not ideal, I don't mind a wide draw if we know we are backing a horse who'll find a way to get prominent.

His win back in April at Sandown has worked out and visually he was doing it ever so easily, indicating there is plenty more under the bonnet that we may get to see now he is competing in stronger company. I fancy he can certainly get involved in the finish and quite fancy him win only, but if you are an each-way punter then 9/1 is more than fair. I'd imagine the dangers will be drawn high around him and unsurprisingly the one I am most afraid of is Ballydoyle market leader with Ryan Moore on Serious Contender, who may also attempt to lead under Ryan Moore.

He is not quite favourite as I type however as that honour goes to Merchant for Haggas and Marquand. He did it well at York last time out when trying this trip for the first time, but an eight pound hike for this will make it tough and I fancy there's more upside in Serious Contender and definitely in our overpriced pick Sing Us A Song. Hopefully James Doyle is not outthought in the saddle and gets prime positioning because if he does, I rate our chances of hitting the right note to kick off.

15:40 Royal Ascot - Ribblesdale Stakes

Good luck to you if you are backing anything not trained by The Gosdens or Aidan O'Brien in here; eight of the last nine winners have either been Ballydoyle or Clarehaven natives. I will not be taking this trend on, for all Paddy Twomey's Catalina Del Carpio is interesting and if the market speaks in her favour will have me twitching and the only horse ahead of her in the betting is Andrew Balding's Serenity Prayer. She finished second to Whirl last time out at York, who was my Oaks fancy and ran a stormer for second there, but I do think the fact she was second that day has been overblown. She was absolutely battered, like the rest of the field, by Whirl that day and I don't believe simply the number 2 on her record should warrant favouritism in here.

Garden Of Eden is definitely the most likely winner from Ballydoyle and Ryan Moore did not have a tough call to make in riding her considering her improvement to win at Navan in a listed contest last time out, but she's not been missed in the market at around 9/2. At bigger prices, I will give one last chance to a horse I've always thought a lot of for team Gosden in GO GO BOOTS, who was also well stuffed by Whirl at York before flopping in The Oaks but is well over five times the price of the favourite and that makes very little sense, if we look purely at York and ignore her Epsom display.

She is well bred by Night Of Thunder and seems to be a longer term project for the Gosdens than some of the top class fillies they've had in the past. I like the booking of William Buick, for all he didn't have a great Tuesday, and also think she'll appreciate this step up to 12 furlongs with blinkers attached.  Should she settle a touch better, she can make prices of 20/1 look very silly and I will be backing her each-way to hopefully secure some place profit and maybe even spring a surprise.

17:35 Royal Ascot - Hampton Court Stakes

i don't have a strong opinion in the Gold Cup, with Illinois looking the most likely winner but his 13/8 price hardly setting the pulse racing considering we know he is the plan B after Kyprios's injury and subsequent retirement. We move on then and after spending half an hour tying myself in knots trying to crack the Britannia, I found a much more enticing proposition in the Hampton Court Stakes.

This race sees the fourth and third from the Prix Du Jockey Club clash once again and I am fairly confident the form will be upheld by DETAIN for the Gosdens over Trinity College. The market disagrees with me but barring the Ryan Moore effect, I am struggling to see why as on rewatching that race and focusing on just these two, I'd be flabbergasted were anyone to make the case Trinity College looked the better animal. He got first run and was prominent throughout yet was still snatched late by Detain and with less classy rivals here in contention, i can only see the gap being widened between the two not narrowed or even reversed.

Colin Keane rides for the Gosden outfit as the new retained Juddmonte rider and he has started that role in fine form, in no small part due to the awesome Field Of Gold, and with the confidence pulsing through him I believe he will give his horse a great ride. The big two are drawn next to each other in five and six so there should be no hiding place and barring a massive draw bias I think they'll both be involved come the end of the race, with Detain getting my vote as the winner.