Weekend Review: Faves falter at Royal Ascot as Dettori departs and bookies beam

It was a Royal Ascot to remember for the layers as a slew of high-price winners punished punters down in Berkshire.

In a week full of storylines, including a farewell from legendary jockey Frankie Dettori, the punters were left ruing the favourites’ failure to turn up as the bookies walked away happy.

The action was perhaps best summed up on Saturday, with a week of huge-priced winners culminating in a yet another day of positive racing action for the layers.

Snellen in the Chesham, Saint Lawrence in the Wokingham and the huge 80/1 Khaadem in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes were all stand-out results.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “Saturday saw the final day of a fantastic Royal Ascot. At the end of a week of huge price winners and pain for punters, Saturday followed in the same fashion. The day kicked off with 12/1 shot Snellen beating well-backed favourite Pearls and Rubies by a head in the Chesham, and the trend largely continued from there.

“The trend went on as five of seven winners came in at double-figure prices, and only one favourite got their head home in front. All told, punters suffered until the very last race of the day, where 2/1 favourite Dawn Rising finally gave them something to shout about. For the week overall, results went to the layers, and we had a great week,” he added.

Despite the lack of joy for the bettors, BoyleSports’ head of racing trading Alan Reilly said they had not been put off as the week continued.

He remarked: “It would be fair to say that the weekend at Royal Ascot crowned a bookmaker-friendly week, with the average winning SP of 16.8/1 being the biggest in the last 10 years. With winners priced at 150/1, 80/1, 50/1 and 33/1, many punters were left reeling.

“Initial indications suggest turnover was very good and above expectation, despite the results going against the punters,” he added.

It may have been a case of Dettori fever for the punters too, with the Italian putting in vintage performances during the week ahead of his retirement.

Reilly continued: “The most popular bets were multiples on the mounts of Ryan Moore and Franke Dettori, who was riding at the Royal meeting for the final time. Between them, they rode 10 winners across the week and the best effort was from Moore, who rode a treble on day one. That was probably the best day the punters had with the last race winner Vauban being our worst result of the week.”

Elsewhere, LiveScore Group trading analyst team leader Bobby Keyes lifted the lid on how the LiveScore Bet and Virgin Bet company got on during the week.

Keyes said: “It was a very successful Royal Ascot week for us. We saw lots of newly registered accounts, good turnover and even better results.”

Keyes added that backing for Moore and Dettori had some impact during the week, but the firm managed to come out on top.

He said: “Favourite backers were obliged in the Copper House Handicap with Vauban winning comfortably at Evens which gave Ryan Moore a treble on the day. This took the gloss off the margin for day one, but it was still a profitable day for us overall.”

Similarly, touching on Friday’s action, Keyes noted: “Dettori having two winners on the day was not great but, overall, we came out on top with a healthy margin.”

Saturday was once again the crème de la crème for layers from Keyes’ perspective. He added: “Saturday was again very much a bookmaker-friendly set of results. Burdett Road winning the Golden Gates Stakes was one of the best results in the book for us. Snellen and Age of Kings also were favourable results. Khaadem winning at 80/1 in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes sealed what was already a profitable week for us.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “As the meeting’s official bookmaker it was of course as always a thrill be to be involved, and the Frankie/Ryan Moore battle was epic in every sense, especially as Dettori is on his farewell tour. Both were exceptional, but the ride Moore gave Dawn Rising in the last race is as good as I’ve seen at the meeting, period.”

Firkins also revealed one lucky Betfred punter walked away with more than £326,000 after a £1 each-way Lucky 63. The Betfred head described the meet as “vintage Royal Ascot”.

In other big wins, bet365’s Steve Freeth revealed the operator paid out £65,000 in consolation prizes in its free-to-play predictor game – the bet365 ‘6 Horses Challenge’.

Customers had the opportunity to win a share of £100,000 for picking six winners on each day of the meeting: £25,000 for five winners and £10,000 for four winners.

Freeth said: “The £10,000 prize was triggered on each of the first four days, despite it being a meeting littered with big price winners. The closest we came to triggering the £100,000 jackpot was on Friday, where 20 players shared £25,000 after correctly picking five out of six winners.”

Away from the horseracing action, there was more joy for the bookmakers in the post-season football lull as the Under-21 European Championship action came to the fore.

Kindred Group’s Gill said: “European U21 Championship took top order, seeing some very layer-friendly results. Spain and France beat Croatia and Norway, respectively, with both 1-0 scorelines going our way to leave nice margin. England’s 2-0 win over Israel was another one we managed to find a nice finishing position on.”