Tactical victory proves crucial for backers on day two of Royal Ascot

Keith Hamer
June 17, 2020 6:45 pm

Well-backed royal runner the toast of backers.

The Queen’s Tactical came to the rescue of punters when justifying strong market support after the first five favourites had failed to fire on day two of Royal Ascot.

Backed down to 7-2, Tactical duly obliged in the Windsor Castle Stakes, before market leader (3-1) Fujaira Prince took the concluding Copper Horse Handicap.

“A royal winner at this meeting is always well received, and Tactical’s victory would have been particularly popular with plenty of punters, having halved in price to 7-2 before coming home in the hands of James Doyle,” said Coral’s David Stevens.

“Day two of this unusual Ascot had started well for us, with Sir Busker and Hukum two decent results in the opening three races, while Japan’s defeat in the feature Prince of Wales’s Stakes was another positive.

“However, Dark Vision was a well-backed Hunt Cup winner, setting punters up nicely for the Tactical success, and much like day one, it was a day when both backers and layers had something to cheer.”

Ladbrokes reported it was now all square between bookmakers and punters.

“Punters finished day two of Royal Ascot strongly thanks to wins for Tactical and Fujaira Prince,” said their representative Nicola McGeady.

“However, it has been a decent day for us overall with the first five favourites failing to fire. We now head into day three of the Royal meeting all square so it’s all to play for tomorrow.”

Results went better than the first day for Betway. Spokesman Chad Yeomans said: “Despite needing the last race to get us back on level terms with the punters yesterday, today has been a lot better for us.

“We paid six places in the Silver Royal Hunt Cup and Maydanny was well backed to give the in-form Jim Crowley another winner, but the pair were drawn on the wrong side of the track and could only manage a seventh-placed finish which gave us a good start to the day.

“In the feature race of the day, the Prince of Wales’s, we put our neck on the line and super-boosted Japan to 2-1 this morning and thankfully that paid off. Don’t write him off though, he’ll surely come on for that run.

“Dark Vision was one of the best-backed horses of the day, so his success in the Royal Hunt Cup wasn’t met with a cheer on the trading room floor, but with the favourite Lord Tennyson finishing unplaced, they had a small reason to smile!”

“Elsewhere on the card, the well-backed Kipps getting beaten was a good result in the King George V. Punters enjoyed success in the last two races with Tactical and Fujaira Prince winning, but overall, it was too little too late and we’re up on the day”

Paddy Power were also on the right side thanks to a nap-hand of beaten favourites.

“We’ve had a winning day despite favourites winning the last two races as our traders fancied both and kept them on side,” said spokesman Paul Binfield.

“Well-backed Lord North did many punters a favour in the feature, but we were cheering as well as we took Japan on and that result was absolutely massive.

“We’re in front after the first two days, but not by much, and Gold Cup day featuring Stradivarius in the big race and likely hotpots in Sir Dragonet and King Leonidas could determine who emerges victorious in the age-old battle between bookies and backers.”