Royal Ascot Betting Strategy?

[BillyHills]

A couple of weeks to go before probably the best 5 days of the flat season and i'm interested to know how punters approach the Royal Ascot meeting. I said the other day in a post about how emotions can take over when the big races are in focus and wondered about Ascot on various levels. For a kick off many punters who wouldnt normally bother having a bet in the week all of a sudden come out in force, you only have to look around the forums to see that everyone has an opinion when it comes to the Festivals, whether that be Ascot, Cheltenham, York, Goodwood or Aintree. I know people will say 'yeah but these are good horses, decent class etc...' but the truth is at Ascot we still have many races that are as difficult to sort out as any throughout the season, so in theory it should be harder to win and you would think punters would crank down their stakes rather than get involved but the truth as i see it is that many actually either have more bets or increase their stakes during the week. Now is this because its on terrestrial TV, is there more press coverage, is it because the horses are familiar or are we drawn into it by the various bookmakers offers of which we seem to get more of than ever before. I mean how many 'new' customers are left to take advantage of these fantastic offers? I realise its a challenge to work out the winner of the Hunt Cup or the Wokingham, but these races are so difficult and competitive, i dont think people can resist seeing a big price against one of their favourites that they usually would back in a Windsor handicap or similar. The 2yo races are often unpredictable, usually because they are experiencing something totally new to them at Ascot with the big crowds and the demanding track yet the Coventry and the Norfolk will attract a massive turnover no doubt. The Group races are obviously the highlight and understand many will concentrate on these if we get decent fields that is, some in the past have been very one sided and dont appeal as a betting medium but will once again be included in doubles and trebles up and down the country. With many years experience in the betting industry i know how turnover can go through the roof during Ascot and never really questioned it back then, now i'm a normal punter and look at races to bet in i look at it in a different light. I know how hard it is to make a profit at this game and we all have our good and bad spells and although i love Ascot as much as anyone i have decided this year to treat every race on its merits as i would any other racing day and try and not to be swayed by something i might have thought unlucky last time out for example, only to realise it running against much stronger opposition here. (an easy thing to forgive at times)

• I probably wont get involved in the 2yo races for reasons already touched upon, its such a demanding track i feel.
• Handicaps are often won by progressive 3yo's that we dont know how good they are, so i'll be wary of those.
• The Draw is very important even on the round course with big fields, another thing easy to take a chance on and then regret.
• Course form is very important i think at Ascot.
• Wont be backing any odds on favs in the Group races or taking them on if i think they will win just to have a bet in the race.
• Betting bank and stakes will be the same as on any other day, will not get dragged in by all the hype.
• Enjoy watching a lot of good races and make notes for the future easier assignments

Any thoughts about how you approach such a terrific weeks racing?

[Trotter]

Re: Royal Ascot Betting Strategy? Good topic BH You mentionned your post in the other thread and I posted on that thread as well to say that I'd had a rush of blood on the Oaks and Derby and had my maximum bets withouty really having a definite opinion on the races and of course both lost. In other words i bet because i wanted a horse running for me..............and the 'maximum bet' was just absolutely stupid !...........I could have had a horse running for me with a quid on it.......... I think the problem was that I'd been debating the two races with some online friends and i felt honour bound to have a bet because they were having bets and I'd proferred opinions on the horses.......it became a case of 'put up or shut up' I wonder if anyone feels that pressure with the big races.........eg we had long running Oaks and Derby threads on here. Did people feel obliged to bet because they'd nailed their colours to the mast in the weeks leading up to the races ? So I'm definitely going to get a bit more disciplined for Royal Ascot. No matter what rubbish I spout leading up to the Festival I'm not going to be drawn into betting for the sake of it............I imagine I'll leave the 2yo races and the handicaps alone and just concentrate on the group races for the older horses and 3YO Fortunately there are usually plenty of competitions around which invite you to select a horse in every race, so you can have horses running for you even if you haven't betted on them