Wednesday’s Royal Ascot World Pool betting tournament had a thrilling conclusion with some late exotic heroics from Andrew Mount and today Tote’s star tipster almost replicated that success.
Also having a good day yesterday was Tote’s own Jamie Benson, who had added confidence heading into day three of the Royal meeting.
How The Tournament Was Won: Royal Ascot Day Three
Day three of Royal Ascot opened with a controversial upset as £51.00 returner, The Ridler, sailed to the front under Paul Hanagan in the last strides of the Norfolk Stakes making it back-to-back successes in the race for trainer Richard Fahey. After a stewards enquiry the result stood despite the two-year-old drifting left up the run-in and perhaps not giving others a fair run.
It was a slow start for Benson after hitting great heights yesterday, he opened up with the Clive Cox trained outsider Redemption Time, who never threatened before coming home ninth.
Jeremy W, Gabriel V and Samer O all were supporters of the big priced victor and all flew to the top of the leaderboard after the first past the post survived.
The minefield of the King George V Stakes came as race two on the card and turned out not to be as hard to find the joint-favourite winner Secret State. William Buick’s mount handsomely overpaid on the World Pool giving punters £6.82 instead of the industry SP of 4/1.
As well as the overpay in the win market, the exotics provided some mouthwatering returns.
The bookmaker’s forecast (£59.44) and Tricast (£328.90) were dwafted by the Exacta+ (£157.41) and Trifecta+ (£912.89), again showing the excellent value available on the World Pool.
There was no luck for Benson in leg two and very little changes at the top.
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It wouldn’t be a Tote Betting Tournament without a mention of shrewd Irish judge Rory Delargy, but the popular punter would have to wait till leg three to be recognised.
Delargy sided with the Jessica Harrington trained filly Magical Lagoon in the Ribblesdale, which again produced an overpay with the 11/4 returning £4.29 on the World Pool, and in doing so scored Delargy a nice three-figure payday.
Moving on to the feature event of day three, the Ascot Gold Cup.
Jamie Benson made it clear he was a big fan of Kyprios, backing the favourite and also perming up Trifecta’s including the four-year-old, whereas Rory Delargy opt-ed for the proven race-fit status of Princess Zoe over former classic framer Mojo Star.
Benson watched on and was rewarded with his support in the Ballydoyle winner whilst Alex F hit the front with a nice Swinger which included the place fillers, Stradivarius and Mojo Star.
James R was the highlight of leg four, he landed the Trifecta and reaped the rewards of yet another over pay. He scored the £46.75 return as opposed to the £24.51 tricast offering.
Despite his winning plays on the race Benson was still £22.50 down but looked to be on the comeback trail.
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Race five saw a full field of 30 go to post for the Britannia Stakes, presenting plenty of chances for overpays on the World Pool.
Ryan Moore notched up the double with Thesis for the Charlton’s, the 14/1 shot was outstanding value on the World Pool, rewarding backers with a £20.51 Tote+ return.
Benson missed out on hitting a gigantic Trifecta by inches but managed to back the winner, getting himself back into a £53.05 profit and continuing his good form.
Edward F extended his good week of punting by landing a sizable bet on the winner and in doing so lept to the top of the leaderboard once again.
Reach For The Moon was a very warm order at the top of the market before the Hampton Court Stakes and many, including Jamie Benson, decided to oppose Her Majesty’s runner.
Chancers against the odds on shot were thrilled to see Claymore move away from the field stylishly in the closing stages and go on to return £8.14 with Tote+.
The Benson watchers began to sweat when they heard of his score on the Jane Chapple-Hyam trained colt scoring the Tote hack up to £150.57 profit, following a Win and Exacta bet.
It was Rory Delargy who hit the front though, like Benson he took on the Queen’s horse and played Win and Exacta bets.
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The final race on day three saw Benson in great shape but for all those that could beat him the promise of a lucrative dividend.
Benson had napped Chiefofchiefs earlier in the day but he turned out to be one of the many hard luck stories in the race. Missing the start the Jamie Spencer ridden gelding rattled home from the rear of the field but could only propel himself into fourth place.
Steven J, our daily winner, scored with a late lunge in the last. A mammoth Exacta and Swinger got him over the line as well as Win and Place bet on the winner, Inver Park and Ropey Guest the runner up.
Yesterday’s champion Andrew Mount just failed back in second with a late Exacta, Trifecta and a Place bet on Ropey guest to boot.
Dale W made a very shrewd play in the last, playing a £10 combination Exacta to score £550.94. Our fifth placed finisher on day three, he only staked £37.42 to return 636.30 and book himself a seat at the Tournament of Champions.
1,054 players qualified for the daily contest, meaning there was £10,540 in the Beat Benson pool.
Benson ended another superlative day of punting with a total profit of £110.97. Beaten by only 41 qualifying players, they scooped the day three Beat Benson dividend of £257.07.