Festival brings right Royal mixed bag of results for punters and bookmakers

THE fifth and final day of Royal Ascot 2017 ended with mixed results for both bookmakers and punters.

September’s victory as the 11-8 favourite in the opening Chesham Stakes for the in-form Aidan O’Brien team gave backers a dream start, with Snoano’s 25-1 surprise success in the Wolferton a relief for the layers.

The topsy-turvy day continued with wins for Idaho (9-2) in the Hardwicke Stakes and The Tin Man (9-2) in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, both being well-supported.

Then Out Do (25-1) in the Wokingham and Oriental Fox (10-1) in the Queen Alexandra Stakes helped ensure bookmakers got their own back.

“The victories of Idaho and The Tin Man really summed up our week, they beat well-backed favourites in Dartmouth and Limato respectively, but they were the next in the betting and far from unbacked themselves,” said Coral’s David Stevens.

“That continued the theme we saw earlier in the week with the likes of Heartache and Big Orange, the latter a really popular winner in the week’s biggest betting heat, the Gold Cup.

“The consistently quick ground this week has probably played a part in the fancied horses dominating the Group races, while the handicaps have on the whole been kinder to the layers.

“We’re certainly not complaining as it’s not been painful like some recent Royal meetings, but overall it’s been far from a bookies’ benefit, and plenty of punters will have enjoyed the biggest week of the Flat season.”

Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield said: “September kicked off the final day in fine style for punters, but the story of this week is that they’ve just not been able to build up a head of steam.

“They would have fancied their chances with favourites Dartmouth and Limato, but both were denied, although the latter’s race was a losing one with The Tin Man, hugely popular, prevailing. But overall it’s been a good day for the ‘books’ and we’ve won the Royal argument in 2017.”