Buckingham Palace Stakes 2025 Tips: No Retreat one to beat

Day three of Royal Ascot features an open renewal of the Gold Cup supported by three more competitive big-field handicaps. 

The closing race sees 29 go to post of the Buckingham Palace Stakes handicap over 7f. Due off at 18:10, Betfred are paying SIX places, below are my selections.

Buckingham Palace Stakes Odds

No Retreat @ 22/1

NO RETREAT made a promising debut for George Scott having previously been trained in the UAE, and makes plenty of appeal again on Thursday. The son of Siyouni has proved very consistent and is yet to finish out of the first three in his eight race career, despite contesting some competitive handicaps.

He is entitled to improve from that effort given he had been off the track for a couple months on his first outing since a gelding operation. A versatile operator, he has raced over a variety of trips, but he looks particularly interesting on this drop back to 7f given his only win came on his sole attempt at this distance.

First time cheekpieces can also bring about some further progress and he remains open to plenty of improvement as a lightly raced four-year old. As always in these big field contents, the draw will play a part so hopefully he isn't inconvenienced by stall 1.

Never So Brave @ 13/2

Four year-olds have taken the last five renewals of this contest, and with a similar profile to No Retreat, NEVER SO BRAVE is worth supporting from the high drawn runners in stall 28.

If there is a horse in this race that may yet be better than handicap level it could well be Never So Brave, who was always well thought of when trained by Sir Micheal Stoute before his retirement.

The recently gelded son of No Nay Never had smart form as a juvenile, only beaten by subsequent Group One winners Vandeek and Ancient Wisdom and he wasn't disgraced when mid-field over this course and distance in the Jersey Stakes last year.

HIs seasonal and yard debut for Andrew Balding was full of promise at Chester, only going down by a nose to a progressive, race-fit rival when not getting the clearest of runs. He is entitled to strip fitter after that run and may be up to defying his big weight here before having another go in a higher grade of race.

He seems well suited by a sound surface and has the assistance of Osion Murphy in the saddle, while his yard remains in top form.

Selected race(s). Applies to Each Way, Single & Multiple bets only. Antepost bets don’t apply. Min. runner rules apply. T&Cs Apply.

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