Royal Ascot 2022: Ante-Post Market Movers Update

It's nearly time for , so here is our round-up of the latest big race odds and market moves ahead of Tuesday's curtain raiser.

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Baaeed A Warm Order To Get The Meeting Off To A Flyer

There are a host of short-priced favourites across the five days of Royal Ascot 2022 but no horse is more prohibitively priced than Baaeed in the meeting's opening contest.

Baaeed is a 2/9 shot with to see off just six rivals in Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes, although many will see that as value given the level of superiority that Baaeed holds over his miling contemporaries. 

In reality, he’s probably a tens-on chance and William Haggas’ stable star is likely to be the cornerstone of millions of multiple bets across the land.

The second odds-on favourite on Tuesday is 2,000 Guineas winner Coroebus who is a 4/6 poke to follow up in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Unlike Baaeed, Coroebus hasn’t scared off the opposition because a total of 13 horses stood their ground for this Group 1 prize at Sunday's final declaration stage. 

Despite the quantity of opposition, only three of Coroebus' rivals - My Prospero, Maljoom and Mighty Ulysees - are trading below 20/1. My Prospero and Maljoom are both trained by William Haggas, who throws two big darts at a race he has never won before.

The Coventry Stakes has a new favourite in Blackbeard after a setback meant that Noble Style was not among the final declarations for the blue riband juvenile race of the week.

The unbeaten Blackbeard, who is joined by stablemate Age Of Kings, is an 11/4 market leader with to provide Aidan O’Brien with a remarkable 10th Coventry Stakes success. He is only a quarter of a point shorter than Persin force who could easily usurp Blackbeard as market leader come the day.

Archie Watson’s only previous Royal Ascot winner was in a two-year-old contest (Soldier’s Call in the 2018 Windsor Castle Stakes) and his hugely impressive debut winner Bradsell is now as short as 8/1 having traded at double those odds just a couple of weeks ago.

King’s Stand Stakes betting lists strongly point to the Group 1 prize heading overseas but there isn’t much between US raider Golden Pal and Australian sprinter Nature Strip at the prices.

Wesley Ward’s speedball Golden Pal (11/4) had dominated this market but confidence appears to be growing in Nature Strip (

), whose rider James McDonald already has a Royal Ascot success to his name courtesy of Expert Eye in the 2018 Jersey Stakes.

The shortest-priced British-trained winner is Henry Candy’s Twilight Calls who was nibbled into 7/1 from 8/1 on Sunday.

Top jumping yards are targeting the big staying prizes on the Flat more than ever before so it’s no surprise that Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are responsible for the top two in the Ascot Stakes market.

Bring On The Night has been thumped at the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals this spring but he was a two-time winner on the Flat in France and someone clearly believes that a mark of 93 is on the lenient side for Willie Mullins’ charge. 

He heads the betting at 4/1, a point shorter than Triumph Hurdle third Pied Piper, who has touched a high of 9/1 in lists. The booking of Jamie Spencer for Gordon Elliott’s runner will no doubt divide opinion but, with that in mind, it’s probably safe to assume that this horse will be ridden patiently.

Reshoun, last year’s winner of the race (races off the same mark this time around) attracted some nibbles of support on Sunday but the best supported runner in the last 24 hours has been Arcadian Sunrise (9/1 into 7/1) for Irish trainer John Queally.

Coronation Looking Unlikely For Homeless Songs

The big market shift later in the week has been in Friday’s Coronation Stakes which has a new favourite after Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs started to drift markedly on Sunday. 

Dermot Weld had previously warned punters that he wouldn't want to risk his star filly on quick ground and the forecast suggests that's exactly what ground conditions are going to be all week.

That all means that Group 1-winning two-year-old Inspiral is now a 2/1 favourite with to get her season off to a winning start after she was forced to miss the 1,000 Guineas, for which she had been ante-post favourite all winter.

Newmarket heroine Cachet, who was as big as 20/1 in a place for this race at the start of May, is now a general 5/1 for the big fillies’ mile race of the week.

Another mover on Friday’s card is Heredia who has been supported into 10/1 from 14/1 for the Sandringham Stakes Handicap.

The unbeaten filly made it three wins from three starts when she overcame trouble in running to land a competitive fillies’ handicap at York a couple of weeks ago.

The way she finished that seven-furlong contest, along with her pedigree, strongly suggest that she will improve again for going up to a mile and this lightly-raced filly is firmly on the up.

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Moore and O'Brien Head Jockey And Trainer Markets

Ryan Moore has been top jockey at Royal Ascot eight times and he is a solid even money favourite to add another leading rider award to his cabinet this week.

Moore, who has ridden 66 Royal Ascot winners in total, has several strong chances through the week but he was turned over as short-price favourite in 2021 and it wouldn’t be a massive surprise should that happen again. 

William Buick and Frankie Dettori (9/4 and 5/2 respectively) are obvious alternatives but Jim Crowley, who should get his meeting off to a winning start with Baaeed, looks a potential value play at 10/1.

In their top trainer market, Aidan O'Brien and Charlie Appleby are 2/1 joint favourites with Bet365, with William Haggas a 7/2 chance. Haggas has never trained more than two winners at a Royal Ascot meeting but it will be a surprise if he doesn’t better that score this time around given the firepower in his ranks.