Horse Racing Tips Today – Ed Quigley’s Royal Ascot Preview for Wednesday 17 June

Written By Ed Quigley | Published at June 17, 2026

ASCOT, UK - OCTOBER 27, 2024: Aerial view of Ascot racecourse, horse racing venue of Royal Ascot, taken on Champions Day in Autumn

Royal Ascot 2.30 - Wild Blossom e/w

Wild Blossom won in the manner of a superstar last time out, and although into much deeper waters here, she looks to have the tools required to get in the mix for this 5f event for the Fillies' at Group 2 level. The Karl Burke team are in cracking form at the moment, operating at around a 22% strike-rate for June, and they will be confident of a bold show from the daughter of Mehmas who showed serious gears to win a Carlisle Novice by 10 lengths on debut, putting the race to bed in a matter of strides. It was a very taking display, and she looks more than worthy of her place in the line-up here. Underfoot conditions should be absolutely spot-on for her, and she gets the each-way nod from me with James Doyle in the saddle.

Royal Ascot 3.40 - Falakeyah e/w

It is fair to say that Falakeyah is a bit of an enigma, but I am going to take a chance that she can show her old zest. She looks something out of the ordinary when winning on her debut at the backend of 2024, and then won in excellent style when landing the 2025 Pretty Polly Stakes. However, I am going to give her another chance, as she showed so much raw ability to begin with, and she is still relatively unexposed. She can be quite free, so the drop back back to 1m shouldn't be a problem, and the overriding feeling is that if she puts her best foot forwards she is more than capable of landing a race like this. Owen Burrows has his string in scintillating form, and she could run well at a massive price with the excellent Tom Marquand in the saddle.

Royal Ascot 4.20 - Ombudsman

Ombudsman is a class act, and we have the potential of a classic dust-up here, as he is set to take on Arc hero Dayz in what looks like one of the clashes of the meeting. Daryz is likely to be warm order for this, but he will definitely know he is in a race, and will the prospect of quick underfoot conditions play to his strengths? The John and Thady Gosden trained Ombudsman was superb in this race 12 months ago and I can envisage a similar performance here. He has serious gears, and I think that he will be brought to the boil for this after having had the perfect prep run at Sandown recently where connections warned he was 'far from tuned-up'. Despite that, he dug in to win, and I think he will be a serious candidate to make it back to back wins in this race.

Royal Ascot 5.35 - Zgharta

Zgharta didn't run all that badly when seventh in last year's Sandringham after a very sluggish start, and comes into the mix here from an each-way perspective. A strong pace to aim at looks key, and she should get that here for the yard that won this 12 months ago. The superb Oisin Murphy takes the ride, and this combination could well be finishing strongly inside the closing stages when others have cried enough. Off a mark of 88, she is still open to any amount of improvement, and it wouldn't be a shock if she managed to show that she was better than her current mark here.