Royal Ascot Friday Tips: 'At 14-1 he could look a big price'

The Group 1 Coronation Stakes and the Commonwealth Cup are the big races on day four of Royal Ascot. Johnny Ward, Emma Nagle, and Stephen Harris discussed Friday’s action on our 2025 Royal Ascot preview show, here are their insights on the features plus their other best bets on the day.

Commonwealth Cup (3:05)

Expert Analysis:

Johnny's View: Shadow Of Light looks like a horse who stays pretty well, but I feel he's probably short enough in the betting. He's taking on horses who will have lots of pace.

I'm not even sure he's going to necessarily compare or reverse the form with Babouche, but Whistlejacket, he's a very, very solid horse. It's rare you get him at this sort of price.

Stephen's Assessment: I am surprised Shadow Of Light is dropping back two furlongs, it's always slightly alarming when you get a 2-year-old who's so good he gets beaten first time out in the Guineas and then immediately there's a complete sort of vault fast and they want to run him over 6 furlongs against crack sprinters, it’s a hot race.

The one I thought was overpriced is Big Mojo. I really like Big Mojo, he likes fast ground and he's a strong traveller. At 14-1, he could look a very big price.

Emma's Take: I think the Whistlejacket each-way angle is definitely interesting at 8-1. You'd rarely get a price like that about him, he's a real sprinter. I think Whistlejacket at 8-1 looks a good each-way bet.

Team Takeouts:

Whistle Jacket each-way at 8/1 - All three experts liked this price

Big Mojo each-way at 14/1 - Stephen's value pick as a "proper sprinter"

Coronation Stakes (4.20)

Expert Analysis:

Stephen's Assessment: I think it's possibly more open than the betting suggests. The only thing to say about Zarigana’s wins - they've been on good to soft and soft. On good ground last time out was was probably her least impressive performance. At a short price I suppose there are doubts.

Emma's View: I do expect Zarigana to win this. I don't think Mikael Barzelona covered himself in glory with that ride in the French Guineas. I'd expect her to go on and win this.

Other Friday Best Bets:

Johnny:

Signora in the Albany Stakes at 2.30 - another Frankel horse. A very well bred horse she was very, very eye-catching on her debut at Naas.

Stephen:

Betty Clover in the Sandringham Stakes at 5:00 - Eve Johnson Houghton has booked William Buick for the ride which she wouldn't make a habit of doing.

Emma:

Wimbledon Hawkeye in the King Edward VII Stakes at 5:35 at 6/1 - stepping back to this kind of level, I think it looks like a really good fit for him.

Watch the full video preview here: