Royal Ascot Day 2 Tips: Best Bets For Wednesday's Action

June 18, 2025

Our best bets for Day 2 of Royal Ascot come in the opening Queen Mary Stakes and the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes.

Royal Ascot Day 2 Tips: Best Bets For Wednesday’s Action

2:30 – Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2) – ZELAINA @ 5/1

Following Gstaad’s impressive victory in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes on Tuesday, punters have flocked to the top betting sites in Ireland to back his stablemate True Love in the Queen Mary.

True Love finished just behind Gstaad (7/1) at Navan last month despite being sent off the 2/5 favourite so it’s clear who the stable thought was better and while that may be a tip in itself, there looks a more appealing angle into this contest.

The sustained support for True Love has led bookmakers to push ZELAINA‘s price out to as big as 5/1 – who was the clear market favourite at around 2/1 before 3:05pm yesterday and there could be a bit of value in the new price.

Karl Burke’s filly was well-backed on debut at Nottingham earlier this month, hacking up in extremely taking fashion after breaking smartly from the stalls to take up the running and never saw another rival.

Zelaina forced all of her rivals off the bridle shortly past the three-furlong marker and while that may not have been the strongest race, she passed the eye test in flying colours.

Burke has won this race twice in the last three years with one-raced fillies after successes by Dramatised in 2022 and Leovanni in 2024 alongside Beautiful Diamond’s third-place finish in between.

The trainer even added the two-year-old by Mehmas had missed ten days of work before her Nottingham romp and the scope for improvement is undoubtedly terrifying.

Zelaina was the top-priced filly at the April Goffs UK breeze-up sale in Doncaster, selling for an incredible £650,000 to Wathnan Racing who know the time of day when it comes to Royal Ascot and target horses specifically for the meeting.

She can’t compete with the favourite on bare form heading into the race but she may well have a higher ceiling and I’m banking on that star power shining through.

WATCH: Zeliana’s impressive win on debut at Nottingham

Wow!

Zelaina (Mehmas) looks a very exciting filly and is set for Royal Ascot now after a fine debut for @karl_burke and Wathnan Racing at @NottsRacecourse pic.twitter.com/Vou7G1u7Ec

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 4, 2025

3:40 – Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2) – FALLEN ANGEL @ 11/2 EW

Looking again to a Wathnan runner trained by Karl Burke could be the answer in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes as FALLEN ANGEL bids to get back on winning terms.

The four-year-old’s winning drought extends to over a year having not tasted glory since the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh last May however it would be a disappointment not to see her at least hit the frame here.

Fallen Angel dusted off the cobwebs in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury when finishing sixth but her runner-up to Porta Fortuna on Irish Champions Day at Leopardstown in September is arguably the strongest form in the field.

First-time cheekpieces could yield some improvement and she gets a confident each-way vote. The Too Darn Hot filly drops back in class to a Group 2 after running in six consecutive Group 1s so she should appreciate this easier assignment.

She generally needs her comeback run – as seen last year when bombing out in the English 1,000 Guineas before bouncing back in Ireland – and while her effort certainly wasn’t bad in a red-hot Lockinge, I’m expecting her to come on a bundle for that.

WATCH: Fallen Angel wins the Irish 1,000 Guineas

Fallen Angel returns to winning ways in the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas with Danny Tudhope onboard!

A superb run for one of @karl_burke‘s most promising stable superstars! pic.twitter.com/B5teLEKtC7

— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) May 26, 2024