Duke of Cambridge Stakes Betting Tips, Winners & History

Next Race: TBD

The next renewal of this race has not been scheduled yet. We will update this once the schedule has been released for next season. The race info, trends and tips shown below will be updated for the next renewal once the final declarations have been made.

Duke of Cambridge Stakes Betting Tips

Note: The following tips are from 2020. Tips for the next renewal will be added once the final declarations have been made.

There’s no shortage of highlights at the Royal Ascot festival, and one of the standout contests for the fillies comes on the opening day. One of the newer races at the meeting, having only made its debut in 2004, the race is one of the season’s big targets for trainers of the most talented female milers.

Sir Michael Stoute flew out of the traps in this event, winning the first two editions, and it is he who leads the way in the trainers table with four wins in total. Stoute will be represented by the Shamardal filly, Jubiloso this time around.

This hasn’t been the easiest race to call at the Royal meeting, with three winners returning a double figure SP in the past decade – including 25/1 shot Amazing Maria in 2015. There have also been three winning favourites over this period, resulting in supporters of the marker leader breaking dead even.

Nazeef (10/3)

John Gosden has two previous wins in this event, having landed the prize in 2007 and 2012, and he is responsible for the current favourite for the race in the shape of the four year old Nazeef. Heading into this contest seeking a five timer she makes obvious appeal, going in the famous Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum colours, with Jim Crowley taking the ride.

A perfect two from two on the all-weather, including when mastering Billesdon Brook on her recent comeback at Kempton, she is also effective on turf, with her sole defeat coming when getting going all too late on debut. Our one slight concern, for a filly who really seems to skip along on a quick surface, would be the ground. The forecast rain may not ruin her chance entirely should it arrive, but it seems likely to suit others in the field more.

Jubiloso (7/2)

Going for fellow Newmarket handler Sir Michael Stoute is Jubiloso. This Khalid Abdullah-owned runner burst onto the scene when winning her first two starts at Chelmsford and Newbury, before then being stepped right up in class for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at this meeting in 2019. She ran a cracker that day too – finding only French star Watch Me and Guineas heroine Hermosa too good on the day. Dropping down to a Group 3 at Goodwood on her next start, she found herself shuffled right back in the pack before flying home down the outside for third behind Billesdon Brook and Perfection.

If heading here on the back of that Goodwood effort we suspect she may have been the clear favourite for this. However, she did blot her copybook when being turned over at odds-on in a Group 3 event at Sandown on her final start of the season. Not only did she fail to win that day, she beat only one runner home in what was an abject performance. Clearly she is better than that and, hailing from a yard which does so well with four year olds, she can’t be dismissed, but does nevertheless have questions to answer for now.

Miss O Connor (5/1)

Next in the betting comes the only unbeaten filly in the race, Miss O Connor, from the William Haggas operation. Snapped up by her current owners following a debut success in a maiden race at Gowran Park in May 2019 for John James Feane, she hit the ground running following the switch to her new yard. Miles too good for the field in a novice event at Nottingham, she then took the step up to Listed level in her stride when winning next time out at Haydock. Having rounded off last season with a gritty success in a solid looking French Group 3, this slight step up in class would look to be the obvious starting point for the season.

The one slight question with the daughter of Roderic O’Connor again comes with the ground. It may only be a coincidence that she has raced solely on soft or worse going to date – and comments from the yard would suggest that easy going isn’t thought to be essential – but until she proves she can do it on a quicker surface we won’t know for sure. That said, she can’t be ruled out of this, especially if the word soft should enter the going description.

Lavender’s Blue (11/2)

Also prominent in the market is the Amanda Perrett-trained, Lavender’s Blue, and it’s not hard to see why, with the pick of this one’s efforts from last season bringing her firmly into the mix. A winner on debut at Newmarket, she then ran a nice race to fill second in an Oaks trial, before finishing stone last in the big race itself. It can’t be easy attempting to win a Classic whilst suffering from throat spasms though – as the filly was that day – and so it’s easy to draw a line through that effort.

Given a break to get over her Epsom experience, she then returned to the track at Sandown in the same race in which Jubiloso disappointed so badly. For every loser there is a winner, and Lavender’s Blue bounced back to form in resounding style. Travelling supremely well in behind the leaders, she then powered through the gap to score by a cosy one and a half lengths. Having backed that up with a fourth place finish in a Group 1, which wasn’t really run to suit, she makes obvious appeal taking this slight drop in class, and is the one for us.