Royal Ascot 2025: Best Bets for Day 3

Day Three of the Royal Ascot is on Wednesday, and BettingLounge's horse racing expert Conlan has returned to go through some of the best bets of the day.

You can also check out our complete preview for the festival, which goes into each race and the favourites.

🥇 Best Bet

My Best Bet for the third day of the Royal Ascot meeting comes in the fabled Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup, and it may not come as a surprise that I have chosen Trawlerman to be the first to the post over this lengthy 2m4f trip.

This horse is special, and I am very surprised he isn’t the clear favourite over Illinois. The legendary Kyprios was poised to come here in a bid to win this race for the second year running and the third time overall, but was retired earlier in the summer due to an injury that he couldn’t shake off.

Trawlerman ran him close in last year's renewal of this race in the same conditions, finishing just a length behind him in the dying embers of the race, and since then has run in conditions that aren’t particularly suitable for him.

He stayed the trip resiliently in this race last year, and I find it hard to see past him, despite the strong form of Illinois coming into this, who is unexposed over a trip of this length.

🥈 Next Best

After Trawlerman, my next best bet for the day is Serenity Prayer in the Group 2 Fillies Ribblesdale Stakes at 15:40.

He comes into this after an improving 2nd last time out in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes at York in May, staying on towards the back end of the race. He finished just over 5 lengths behind Whirl, who has since finished 2nd over this trip behind Minnie Hauk in the Oaks at Epsom earlier this month.

Andrew Balding will be hoping this seemingly talented filly will help to provide him with his first ever winner in this race, and to break Aidan O’Brien’s reign of dominance in this race in the last two years.

👀 Longshot

For my long shot of the day, I have perused the first race of the day and have picked out Clear Force in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, a race for 2-year-olds which will be taking place over a quick 5 furlongs.

In a 16-runner field, this colt has been drawn widest of the lot and has shown plenty of pace in his three runs over this trip, including a solid 4th in a Class 1 at Sandown last month. He is trained by Karl Burke, who’s 2 year old’s have been in excellent form this season. Clear Force came up against First Legion at Sandown, whom he faces again today, where he finished just over 2 lengths behind them.

On that occasi,on however, he had to tackle a wide draw which isn’t preferable over the distance at that course. The conditions seem much better suited for him today, and I think he has a great chance of providing Karl Burke with a back-to-back victory in this contest.