Royal Ascot 2025: Five longshots to know

At this writing, most of the fields for Royal Ascot have yet to be finalized, and the market could adjust in the ensuing days. 

Here are five contenders, trading at double digits as we begin the week, who are worth knowing in their respective Group races.

Tuesday – Lake Forest in Queen Anne (G1)

The opening race of the meet offers a much-anticipated rematch of the leading players from the Lockinge (G1), historically the key guide to this straight mile contest. Thanks to the prevailing narrative, another logical contender, Lake Forest, is getting overlooked at around 12-1. The William Haggas trainee has yet to race at this trip, but judging by his flying late rally to win Australia’s lucrative Golden Eagle going about 7 1/2 furlongs, he should handle it. Lake Forest has Ascot form as a fine second in last summer’s Commonwealth Cup (G1), and his comeback fourth in France was sneakily good. 

Wednesday – Soprano in Duke of Cambridge (G2)

Overshadowed by such Grade/Group 1 celebrities as Cinderella’s Dream, Fallen Angel, and Elmalka, Soprano has each-way appeal at 10-1. The Starspangledbanner filly has run well in her prior starts here, including a handicap score on the straight course at last year’s Royal meeting, and she’s improved in the interim. After high-level placings at the Irish Champions Festival and at Keeneland, she found the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) a bridge too far. Trainer George Boughey has been aiming for this one-mile target all along, and Soprano tuned up with a front-running win at Kempton. 

Thursday – Tornado Alert in Hampton Court (G3)

Tornado Alert has run respectably in two classics, finishing fourth in the 2000 Guineas (G1) over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile and sixth in the Derby (G1) at Epsom. Might the Godolphin homebred find the 1 1/4 miles of the Hampton Court (G3) just right? Trainer Saeed bin Suroor won this race with Benbatl (2017), who was similarly reverting in trip following a fifth at Epsom. If Tornado Alert does run here, he’ll have to raise his game against early favorite Detain, the close third in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (G1). But that is reflected in his price, as high as 12-1 in the antepost market. 

Friday – Ides of March in Commonwealth Cup (G1)

An Aidan O’Brien runner who fits these conditions to a tee, Ides of March is a bit lost in the shuffle at around 10-1. But the Wootton Bassett colt might be the best of the principals going a stiff six furlongs on rattling quick ground. I wouldn’t hold his unplaced effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) against him, since a turning five furlongs at Del Mar was too short. 

Back over six-furlong straightaways for his preps this term, Ides of March placed a better-than-appears second at Navan to stablemate Whistlejacket (who arguably benefited from the soft going) and at Newbury to Symbol of Honour (who would have been one of the favorites here if he weren’t ineligible as a gelding). Ides of March has given the impression that he would develop into a powerful sprinter, and this could be his time to shine.

Saturday – Flora of Bermuda in Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee (G1)

Emerging powerhouse Wathnan Racing already had a strong hand in Saturday’s marquee sprint, with early favorite Lazzat and proven course-and-distance operator Kind of Blue. So it might be significant that they’ve decided to add yet another recruit, Flora of Bermuda, to their line-up, especially because she had another option. 

The Dark Angel filly also would have fit the five-furlong dash, the King Charles III (G1), where she was initially penciled in as my Tuesday longshot. From the in-form yard of Andrew Balding, she just missed by a neck in the 1895 Duke of York (G2) to Inisherin, the second-favorite here. Flora of Bermuda was progressive last season as a three-year-old facing elders, and she promises even more this term.