
We move into a new week of free betting tips, and rather than looking at today’s action, I’ve opted to look ahead. And my target is the 2025 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
I typically produce four articles each week, and more often than not, they are betting tips for the day’s racing action. However, the content does vary considerably and I sometimes produce other articles too, which include betting guides, big race trends, and antepost selections.
At present, I have antepost selections posted for the 2025 St Leger, the 2026 Cheltenham Festival and the 2026 Grand National, so be sure you check them out to catch the early prices. Today I’ll be adding the 2025 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes to that list. You’ll also get more betting tips tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, so make sure you check back in for those!
At the time of writing, William Hill has the best price available for Jan Brueghel at 2/1. As well as great value on the price, they also have superb value for new customers. If you bet £10, they’ll give you £40 of free bets as a new customer. Make sure you take full advantage of this one!
Back in June, I predicted that Jan Brueghel would beat Calandagan in the Coronation Cup, and he delivered, meaning a nice return for my Discord members. The market currently suggests that Calandagan will get revenge in the King George, but I believe we’ll see a repeat performance from Jan Brueghel!
As mentioned, I fancied Jan Brueghel to fend off Calandagan at Epsom last month and I tipped him on Discord to do so. As you can imagine, I was over the moon to see that prediction come to fruition.
For me, there was a combination of factors that caused the result. Firstly, Aiden O’Brien made use of Jan Brueghel’s stablemate, Continuous, to set a good gallop in front, as a stiff test was more suitable for Jan Brueghel. Likewise, Ryan Moore took it up over 2f out to ensure that there was no let up for Calandagan. For me, it was a mixture of stamina and pure heart that kept Jan Brueghel’s head in front.
With these tactics largely negating Calandagan’s electric turn of foot that day, I fully expect we will see the same tactical play from the Ballydoyle team in the King George. I also think that the stiffer finish at Ascot, compared to Epsom, will suit Jan Brueghel even better. Note also that Calandagan has not raced beyond 1m 4f, whereas Jan Brueghel is a Classic winner over 1m 6.5f, thanks to his St Leger victory at Doncaster last September.
I find it interesting that we are already down to eight runners in the King George:
I’d be shocked if Aiden O’Brien sends Lambourn to the race. In my opinion, Lambourn has already had a couple of tough races, winning both the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby. Those were also the third and fourth runs of his campaign. It would make much more sense to give him a freshen up, a tune up at York next month, and then head to the St Leger at Doncaster in September.
By contrast, Jan Brueghel has only had one tune up run, followed by the Coronation Cup, so he should be in top form here. I suspect Lambourn is only on that list in case something happens to Jan Brueghel in the build up. Whirl would have other options too, being a three-year-old filly. It would make much more sense for her to be focusing on the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, or the Yorkshire Oaks at York.
If you take both Lambourn and Whirl out of the race, we are down to six runners. In addition, I don’t think a 3lb allowance is enough to see Kalpana getting involved, or that an 11lb allowance is enough to see Green Impact be competitive. Continuous will be the pacemaker once again.
For me, this comes down to a few different factors and each of them sways me towards Jan Brueghel confirming the form with Calandagan. Firstly, the race set up, which will be in Ballydoyle’s control, with Continuous the obvious front runner.
Secondly, the track, which I know Calandagan has great form at, but I think the stiff finish will play right into Jan Brueghel’s hands. Then finally, the jockey. While I have great respect for Mickael Barzalona, I think if he and Ryan Moore get down to business in a drive for the line, only one man is winning that fight, and it’s Ryan Moore. Likewise, if I had to rely on either Jan Brueghel or Calandagan to dig deep and win with real guts, I’d be siding with Jan Brueghel every day of the week.
Aiden O’Brien and Ryan Moore dominate most of the big races. However, this particular one has largely avoided their grasp. The pair teamed up to win the 2016 renewal with Highland Reel, but since then, the race has eluded them. Albeit Aiden O’Brien has won the race three times previously though - in 2001 with Galileo, 2007 with Dylan Thomas, and in 2008 with Duke Of Marmalade.
John Gosden is the most prolific winner over the last ten years with three victories, all provided by the great Enable. However, he has nothing to throw at the race this year, as Juddmonte decided to send Kalpana to Andrew Balding.
Francis Grafford won the race last year with Goliath, and is clearly hoping to repeat the feat with Calandagan this year. However, it’s not often you can keep Aiden O’Brien’s hands off these big prizes. And this race certainly is a big one, with £1,500,000 up for grabs, as well as Group 1 status. I believe O'Brien can land his fifth King George win this year.
As per all of the points I’ve made above, I feel the field for this year’s renewal of the King George will compact further. Even though we will likely see more than three runners on the day, I feel there are only three horses of real importance lining up. Those are Calandagan, Jan Brueghel and Rebel’s Romance.
Whilst he was impressive last time at Royal Ascot, Rebel’s Romance was only winning a Group 2 there in the Hardwicke Stakes, and a domestic Group 1 continues to elude him. He ran in this race last year, and came out third best, so I think it will be a similar story again this time around. Although his preparation has been better this year, the top two still have stronger form.
With the race potentially cutting up further over the coming days, Calandagan and Jan Brueghel are sure to shorten in the market. In addition I expect Ryan Moore to be booked for Jan Brueghel, regardless of whether Lambourn turns up or not, so he is likely to shorten for that as well. I can only see the current price for Jan Brueghel of 2/1 getting smaller and I feel it’s the right call to move in now, so here we are.
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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! Since then, they have profited from more winners at 7/1, 15/2, 9/2, 7/1, 11/1, 12/1, 6/1 and 2/1 as well as many more places.
Therefore after the first three weeks or so of July, the Discord members are already sitting on a profit of +25.304pts!
Feel free to join my Discord server right away and see all of my racing content, and if you have any queries before you sign up, my DMs are open over on X @RacingGav

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