Royal Ascot tips: Diamond Rain set to sparkle in Ribblesdale Stakes, Port Fairy an each-way option

15:45 Royal Ascot: Ribblesdale Stakes 

• Race details: 1 mile 4 furlongs, Group 2, 3-year-olds only
• 2023 winner: Warm Heart (13/2) - Ryan Moore (J), Aidan O’Brien (J)
• Recent Trends: 6 of last 10 winners were priced shorter than 5/1, but just 2 winning favourites

Planet Sport Bet Royal Ascot Special: Bet £20+ cash on any runner in the race and if Diamond Rain wins by more than 3 lengths, get a £5 Free Bet!

The betting market is all over Diamond Rain here, and that support should be justified if Charlie Appleby’s lively filly can reproduce the form of her two outings to date.

She was made to work hard for her debut success in early May, eventually edging home by the length of her head over a mile at this venue, but showed immediate progress when winning cosily in Listed company at Newbury a month ago.

The ease with which she stepped up to that longer 10-furlong trip suggested that she will cope comfortably with the even longer distance here, and with stable and jockey William Buick in top form this term, she is in the best of hands to improve further here.

Suggested best bet: Diamond Rain in the 15:45 at Royal Ascot

Elsewhere, the favourite’s closest market challenger, Kalpana, boasts impressive figures of 1212 in her four runs to date, and should give another good account of herself for the formidable Andrew Balding/Oisin Murphy partnership.

However, with four each-way places up for grabs, we’re looking deeper in the market to identify some more attractively-priced value, and while our pin has been hovering over a few likely candidates, it has come down on Port Fairy from the Ballydoyle yard.

It’s not often that Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore team up with a double-digit outsider, and they might just be flying under the bookies radar with this improving young filly.

Best each-way bet: Port Fairy each-way in the 15:45 at Royal Ascot

An inauspicious juvenile debut on unsuitably heavy ground at Gowran Park last October was quickly forgotten and forgiven when she emerged from her subsequent six-month winter break to land her 2024 opener over an extended 10 furlongs on Dundalk’s all-weather track in April.

Port Fairy was upped in trip again when last seen at Chester six weeks ago, and although edged out by a head on the line, that runner-up spot in Listed company was her most impressive performance to date, with all metrics suggesting she has vast scope for further improvement.

Whether that progress is enough to put her ahead of Diamond Rain here remains to be seen, but she is clearly in the best of hands and should give us a decent run for our each-way money.

• Tip advised by JTC Bets Bets on Tipstrr

 

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