
Today I don’t just have one bet for you, I don’t even have two… I have three! The key one comes in the feature race of the day today - The Coral-Eclipse. However, I fancy the same horse to win another big race later in the season and you can even get odds on him winning them both!
Most of you will be reading these articles for my daily betting tips and I typically post four per week. However, I do produce other types of content as well and this includes guides, big race trends and antepost selections. If you’re a new reader and/or haven’t already checked out my existing antepost pieces, make sure you do! As it stands, I have selections for the 2025 St Leger, 2026 Cheltenham Festival and 2026 Grand National. Don’t wait, take those early prices for the best value!
As well as offering fantastic prices of 8/1 and 20/1 on the first two bets, William Hill are the only bookmaker pricing up the double, and 66/1 is too generous to ignore with their #YourOdds special. In addition, new customers who bet £10, will get £30 of free bets. That's a whole lot of value right there.
The 2025 renewal of the Coral-Eclipse has a hot favourite, Ombudsman, owned by Godolphin and running in their famous blue silks. However, while he is trained by John and Thady Gosden, they have a second runner in the field trained by Charlie Appleby and that is Ruling Court. Despite retained jockey William Buick riding Ombudsman, I think Ruling Court could come out on top!
Over the winter, the Charlie Appleby stable viewed Ruling Court as a middle distance horse and he was entered in the Derby. However, they took a chance by running him in the 2000 Guineas and he went and won it! Debatably with an early move from Kieran Shoemark, Field Of Gold would have won the race but the history books will always show Ruling Court as the winner.
After winning the 2000 Guineas, they decided to stay down the 1m route and opted for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Field Of Gold subsequently put Ruling Court in his place over that trip this time. Now the Charlie Appleby yard are in no doubt that Ruling Court needs to step up in trip and they come here for the Coral-Eclipse.
I think this step up in trip can see Ruling Court bounce back with a huge performance and he can give Ombudsman plenty to think about here.
In the Coral-Eclipse horses aged 3 receive a 10lb allowance against their rivals rated 4+. That is a huge allowance to receive and therefore it is no shock to see that seven of the last ten renewals have been won by 3-year-old horses.
If you work off the official ratings, Ruling Court is the one they have to beat when the allowance is factored in. He’s currently rated 121 but by the time you factor in the 10lb, he’s effectively rated 131. With Ombudsman the top rated horse on official ratings with a mark of 128, Ruling Court comes out 3lb superior.
Many will argue that Ombudsman is improving with every run and he could well run beyond his existing mark. I would agree with them that there is every chance that could happen. However, Ruling Court is also open to plenty of improvement, arguably even more, stepping up from 1m to 1m2f for the first time.
Rather than just the one bet today, you’re getting three!
After his third in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, Charlie Appleby said that they will be working back from the Juddmonte International at the Ebor Festival up at York in August. With that as the main aim, I think he looks overpriced at 20/1 and is well worth an early bet at those odds. I also feel that now is the time to play the bet as if he was to win or even just run very well in this Coral-Eclipse, his odds will be slashed for York.
Now with me liking his chances for both the Coral-Eclipse today and the Juddmonte International next month, my eyes lit up when I saw that William Hill were offering 66/1 for Ruling Court to win both races. Now I’m under no illusions that this is a big ask but at 66/1, I feel it is well worth having a small play on.
With 1.75pts staked across the three bets, we could be laughing if Ruling Court was to win the Coral-Eclipse. As that bet of 0.5pt Win at 8/1 alone would return 4.5pts. However, as well as the healthy profit secured, we’d have further bets to come at 20/1 and 66/1, for which he’d be priced up considerably shorter.
For me, Ruling Court has a fantastic chance in the Coral-Eclipse with the 10lb weight for age allowance and the step up in trip on his side. With the fact that his trainer has publicly said that they are working back from the Juddmonte International and he may not even make this race today, it does limit my confidence levels. As a result, I’m only prepared to play half stakes for today’s bet. It is also frustrating that it is a small field and therefore, there is no each way angle, so our hand is somewhat forced to play Win only.
Moving early on the Juddmonte International will go one of two ways. The first way it could go is that Ruling Court wins the Coral-Eclipse, his odds are slashed and we are sitting pretty with our 20/1 slip (never mind the 66/1 one!). The second way it could go is that Ruling Court is beaten or even worse, well beaten in the Coral-Eclipse. If this happens, he’ll likely be a huge price for the Juddmonte International, leaving our 20/1 looking skinny. It’ll also mean our 66/1 double is out of the window! Therefore, the latter two bets are also limited to 0.5pt Each Way and 0.25pt Win respectively.
If you open a new account with one of the bookmakers below and deposit their requirement to back Ruling Court today, they’ll reward you with free bets. You could then use one of those free bets to back him for the Juddmonte International and that way it’s completely risk free! There are some fantastic offers available, so don’t miss out!
While I typically produce four articles each week for betting.co.uk with free access to my betting tips, the majority of my selections are exclusively for my Discord members.
The Discord members enjoyed a very profitable start to July with a four timer landing on the very first day of the month at prices of 11/2, 9/4, 9/2 and 9/2! In addition to that, a 7/1 winner was tipped on the second day too!
Therefore after just four days of July, they are already sitting on a profit of +14.8pts!
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