High-drawn runners may have the edge in Victoria Cup - and this course specialist stands out at double-figure odds

Ascot’s big-field straight-track handicaps are among the hardest races to solve and the Victoria Cup is a sighter for what is ahead in the valuable seven-furlong programme there. 

We can expect the Victoria Cup to have a bearing on sister races like the Buckingham Palace at the royal meeting, July’s International Stakes and the Challenge Cup in October. It may also impact the various top six-furlong and mile handicaps on the straight course throughout the campaign. 

This will not be a day for mud-lovers, and horses congregated towards the stands’ side in the previous two runnings on good ground in 2022 and 2024, rather than splitting into two groups.