Royal Ascot 2026: Selections for Friday, June 19

Favorites and near-favorites dominated the stakes action at Royal Ascot on Wednesday, and the bookies overseas might be quaking in their boots on Friday, as there will be some heavily backed horses that will take some beating. I'm willing to take on a few of them, hoping for some mild upsets.

Had a pretty good Thursday, landing blows with Earth Shot ($11.40) in the Ribblesdale (G2), Scandinavia ($5.30) in the Gold Cup (G1), and Generic ($36.90) in the Hampton Court (G3). The British bankroll has ballooned to $1,537.15. I will wager 5% of the outstanding balance to win on the following top selections, beginning with a $77 play.

Race 1: Albany (G3), 9:30 a.m. ET

Selections: 15-21-5

#15 Light of Dawn (6-1) is only 11 days removed from beating a mere three rivals (albeit all male) in a relatively lucrative novice at Carlisle. Now she is being asked to outrun 24 others. A daunting task.

However, the way she did so suggests she has a bright future. Trainer Karl Burke, who won the Albany last year with Venetian Sun, is reportedly bullish, as he should be for a filly that brought a good deal of scratch at a breeze-up sale earlier this year.

By excellent sprint sire Showcasing, Light of Dawn is a half-sister to Bletchley, who I endorsed in this space for the 2016 Albany. Bletchley frustratingly fell short by a head at a big price. Time for belated amends.

Really hard to knock #21 Sun Goddess (3-2) off her two performances in Ireland for Ballydoyle. Everything, that is, except the miserly price. She might be the most physically imposing filly in the field, but I'll let her try and beat me.

#5 Dark Issue (15-1) dazzled in her Goodwood debut for trainer Richard Hannon, who's had some success in this race before. Given the authoritative manner of the win, she arguably offers great value at a double-digit price.

With such a large field, there are many appealing longshot options for those looking to go deeper in the trifecta and superfecta. #6 Dee's Funny Girl (20-1) got a good education overcoming traffic to win first out at Thirsk, while #2 Bated Benevolence (30-1) and #10 Hidden Gift (20-1) also had promising debuts.

Race 2: Commonwealth Cup (G1), 10:05 a.m. ET

Selections: 22-4-21

A filly is heavily favored to win this, but another of her peers offers some appeal at far better odds.

At this writing, #22 Zanthos (20-1) is trading at about half her early line price. She's lightly raced with just four starts, and enjoyed a respectable two-year-old campaign capped by a win in the Rockfel (G2).

She was given an extremely hard task returning from a very long layoff in the French 1000 Guineas (G1) last month. Attempting to make all over a mile while running in increasingly bottomless ground, she was simply not up to the task.

Zanzos easily stays seven furlongs, so I like the cutback to six here, even if she has to face other early speed. One concern is she's drawn in post 1, and it seems the near side of the course has been the better place to be this week in races run over the straight course. Still, she's interesting.

#4 Charles Darwin (12-1) ran no sort of race last time in the Lacken (G3), which snapped a five-race win streak that included success here last summer in the Norfolk (G2). Perhaps drawn well here in post 20, adding blinkers for a potential rebound.

#21 Venetian Sun (9-5) is all the rage after her three-length demolition of the Sandy Lane (G2) at Haydock over several of these. Won the Albany over this course and distance last year and has clearly improved this term. I'm just not willing to bite at the meager price.

Race 4: Coronation (G1), 11:20 a.m. ET

Selections: 9-4-1

A rubber match between the two Ballydoyle principals perhaps makes this edition of the Coronation a better sporting watch than betting proposition. Unless, that is, the more fancied of the two runners can be toppled.

With that in mind, I'll forgo the potential back patting of selecting an odds-on favorite and side with #9 True Love (3-1). Granted, she had the benefit of a prep heading into the 1000 Guineas (G1) while #4 Precise (3-5) reportedly had her preparation interrupted. Nonetheless, she handled the mile quite well, so much so that Ryan Moore chose to ride her, mistakenly as it turned out, over Precise in the Irish equivalent.

Despite the decisive nature of Precise's triumph at the Curragh, True Love again figures to get first run and might be the one they all have to run down in upper stretch.

A logical choice to complete the chalky trifecta is #1 Balantina (15-1), a fine third over this track last summer in the Albany but unraced since her 20-1 upset of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) in late October.

Race 6: King Edward VII (G2), 12:35 p.m. ET

Selections: 6-2-4

After this week's defection of Derby (G1) favorite Benvenuto Cellini, this edition of the "Ascot Derby" came up disappointingly small.

It still has a heavy favorite, though, in stakes newcomer #6 Water to Wine (1-1), who has looked tantalizingly special with a pair of open-length victories this spring to kick off his career for American owner George Strawbridge and trainers Gosden pere et fils. It presumably won't take much of a step forward for him to win this.

#2 Causeway (2-1), whose only setback came in his debut, is your predictable Ballydoyle blueblood with the lineage to get better going up in distance and class. He had to work a bit last time, though, to pull out the Gallinule (G3) victory over recent maiden winner Zia Zabel.

#4 Golden Story (8-1), a well-beaten third in his season debut to eventual French Derby (G1) winner Constitution River in the Dee S., bounced back with a photo finish success in the Cocked Hat S. at Goodwood. He pipped Del Maro, who lost another heartbreaker in the Queen's Vase (G2) on Wednesday.