15:35 Ascot Gold Cup Odds & Tips: William Hill offer 4/7 on Stradivarius – 18th June 2020

Stradivarius can secure hattrick of Ascot Gold Cup wins

Horse Racing Betting

One of the big feature races of the entire Royal Ascot 2020 festival is the Gold Cup. This is of course, Group 1 Class 1 action and it is part of the British Champions Series.

The winner takes £148,000 and there are 8 declared for the contest, with the going set to be good. The race is open to 4 year olds and above and is over a testing 2m 3f 210y trip.

The big feature story of this one is Stradivarius who is looking to secure a hat trick of wins in the Ascot Gold Cup. He first struck at 7/4 in 2018 and secured the double from an EVENS SP twelve months ago.

Will the deadly Stradivarius/Franke Dettori combo strike again in the race? The rest of the runners in this one know exactly who they have to beat.

Ascot Gold Cup Odds

Stradivarius 8/13
Technician 6/1
Cross Counter 7/1
Moonlight Spirit 12/1
Nayef Road 12/1
Prince Of Arran 20/1
Withhold 33/1
Mekong 50/1
* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020)


Horse Racing Betting at William Hill

Stradivarius is the one to beat again

The brilliant John Gosden-trained STRADIVARIUS is back for another crack at the Ascot Gold Cup. He’s dominated in the last two renewals. Will it be business as usual for him in this field of eight?

Stradivarius is currently 8/13 odds-on to reclaim his Ascot Gold Cup crown* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020)

It’s hard to knock him but a ten-race winning streak was snapped when he paid a visit to Ascot in October last year. He was beaten by a nose by Kew Gardens in the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup (Group 2).

Sadly Kew Gardens has been ruled out this one, which would have been a fascinating rematch.

After a 230 day break Stradivarius came back for a refresher at Newmarket earlier this month and found himself third of seven in the Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup (Group 1).

He is coming back up in trip after that and it was a competitive effort in which supporters would have probably liked to have seen more.

But it was certainly not enough to write him off and history beckons as he tries to become only the third horse to win the Gold Cup three times.

TECHNICIAN W/O STRADIVARIUS
13/8

William Hill

MOONLIGHT SPIRIT

Who can stop Stradivarius? Well, MOONLIGHT SPIRIT may have some claims. He comes back from his winter break looking to pick up on some good form at the end of last season.

He is unexposed above 2m and that is a big question market. But last September he came up trumps in a Longchamp Group 3 effort in Paris. At 12/1 odds he may have some appeal to pull something together fresh* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020).

He followed that up with another good run, getting beaten into second place by less than a length by Technician who he opposes again in this one. Based on his career Moonlight Spirit needs to find his biggest ever effort, but an interesting player.

TECHNICIAN

With a 50% success rate on the turf, TECHNICIAN is going to have some appeal to punters to be the one to take down Stradivarius. Technician is on a hattrick.

The first of those scored was in holding off Moonlight Spirit at Longchamps, before cruising to a Group 1 success at the same venue in October’s Prix Royal-Oak.

So he has big claims as he comes in for his Ascot bow. He will be one to keep on side at 6/1* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020)

CROSS COUNTER

In last year’s Gold Cup, CROSS COUNTER settled for fourth place for trainer Charlie Appleby. He didn’t get a clean run early on and even though he did finish well, there was too much for him to do.

The 5 year old gelding had carried some really hot form into last year’s Ascot Gold Cup effort. He had won four of his five immediate races before that.

He is 7/1 to upset the books here* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020).

That kind of form just hasn’t been there from in this build up. He also lost to Stradavarius at the Goodwood Cup Stakes last summer. It’s a 110 daybreak he returns from. Cross Counter was 5th of 14 on his last trip, a February Longines Handicap.

NAYEF ROAD

On his return from a 245 day break, NAYEF ROAD scored earlier this month. That was over sixteen and a half furlongs in the Sagaro Stakes, scoring by less than a length over Mildenberger.

His one previous effort at Ascot saw him take a good third place in the Queen’s Vase (Group 2) last year.

So he needs to find more, but does look suited to the trip and can at the very least make a claim for a place finish as a 12/1 contender* (betting odds taken from William Hill at 05:05 GMT on Wednesday, 17th June 2020)

The rest of the runners

MEKONG finished in front of Cross Counter when they met up at Riyadh in February. He claimed second place in that 15f handicap. But he is now 7lb worse off to that same opponent. He also finished a long way back of Stradivarius in October’s Long Distance Cup.

PRINCE OF ARRAN was third, sandwiched between Mekong and Cross Counter when they met in Riyadh in February. He was out recently at Newcastle and it was another third place finish for him, this time to Nayef Road. Prince Of Arran can mix it up, a win may be beyond him.

Rounding out the field is WITHHOLD who was a heavily beaten favourite on his last run. He had the blinkers on at Newcastle on his return from the winter break and just didn’t perform. The 7 year old has proven useful in staying contests, the form perhaps just isn’t there at the moment.

Predictions & Tips

Do we go with STRADIVARIUS or not? The answer has to be a yes. On a shorter trip in his last effort, he didn’t score the win. But it saw him have a good run under his belt among some decent company.

Going back up in trip will suit him and he has been a monster in this race and is the one to beat. That reappearance at Newmarket will just likely have made him that much stronger.

We can’t find enough anywhere to oppose him outright. But the race in the W/O Stradivarius market is interesting. It is a wide open field from that perspective.

We in a little bit of a toss up between CROSS COUNTER enjoying a better return to Ascot, the interesting MOONLIGHT SPIRIT or the solid and reliable TECHNICIAN.

It is the latter that will just shade it for us having produced some fine runs in big contests at Longchamps.

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Royal Ascot 2020 betting at William Hill