O’Brien vs the Field – Bookmakers Odds For Royal Ascot

With the Ascot Gold Cup due to run a week today, one of the biggest horse racing events of the year, it’s undoubtedly exciting to see how the odds from the main Irish bookies are looking – and with an excellent lineup in the race, it’s undoubtedly going to be a heart-stopping event for the Ascot Gold Cup! And, for Irish racers specifically, there’s perhaps an even more relevant question to ask here: will an Irish-trained horse be able to pull out the stops and cross the finish line first? And, more specifically, will renowned Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien see success with one of his horses in the race?

Well, while this question isn’t something that can easily be answered, since anything can happen on the day itself, there’s plenty we can look at to help us get an insight into this.

How Many Horses Does Aidan O’Brien Have Entered in the Ascot Gold Cup?

Before we actually look at the individual entries, we should start by considering how many horses Aidan O’Brien actually has entered in the Ascot Gold Cup next week. Indeed, O’Brien’s horses are common sights at Ascot, and he’s got countless horses entered in other races; however, for the Gold Cup specifically, only three of his horses have been entered: Illinois, Jan Brueghel, and Continuous.

Of the three, undoubtedly the best candidate to win the Ascot Gold Cup is Illinois, who is also the current favourite by a pretty big margin. Indeed, Illinois currently has odds of 11/8 (2.38) with Bet365, 5/4 (2.25) with UniBet, and 6/4 (2.5) with Ladbrokes. This sets the 4-year-old colt in a confident position; however, his recent form does bring a touch of doubt, as he’s had a lot of second-place finishes in smaller fields than this. That said, he did win at Ascot last June, so he’s not one to rule out by any means. And, credit where it’s due, he’s never come in at less than second, so even if he doesn’t win, he’ll almost certainly be up there at the front.

Jan Brueghel and Continuous are both far less likely candidates, although the former currently boasts respectable odds of around 8/1 (9.0) with most bookies. The latter, meanwhile, has far longer odds, currently sitting at around 66/1 (67.0); given this, he’s much more of an outsider.

Is O’Brien Likely to Have a Winner at Ascot?

As we’ve seen, Aidan O’Brien only has three horses entered in the Ascot Gold Cup, and of these, Illinois has the shortest odds by far. However, with O’Brien’s horses covering just over 16% of the field, including the current favourite, he’s got a pretty good chance of having a winner in the Gold Cup.

Looking at Ascot as a whole, however, things become far more promising for O’Brien. Indeed, with 33 horses entered in Ascot 2025 trained by O’Brien (across all races during the event), it would be surprising if at least one of these didn’t bring home a gold for the prestigious Irish trainer.

Needless to say, then – next week is going to be an incredibly exciting time for both Aidan O’Brien himself and Irish racing fans as a whole!

Final Thoughts

Aidan O’Brien is arguably one of Ireland’s most celebrated recent horse trainers, and sometimes even claimed to be one of the best trainers of all time. In line with this thought, his credentials alone offer plenty of hope for one of his horses to win at Ascot 2025; moreover, that’s backed up by the impressive recent form of his horses in the race.

Given this, it seems pretty likely that O’Brien will have trained yet another winner – but only time will tell.