William Hill have revealed that Confucius is their biggest liability heading into Royal Ascot.
Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry first-string was backed at 25/1 immediately after defeat on debut, but that’s long gone with the son of No Nay Never now 13/8 favourite.
He sits atop stablemate Charles Darwin, who is a severe loser for the leading bookmaker in the Commonwealth Cup followed by Clive Cox’s Orthodox in the Norfolk.
Reaching High is another big runner William Hill expect to be well-backed until race-time in the Ascot Stakes.
Having been unlucky in the race 12 months ago, Willie Mullins’ runner for The King and The Queen is a strong 9/4 shot the leading bookmaker thinks many punters will latch onto.
Confucius tops the liabilities list
Spokesperson for William Hill, Lee Phelps, said: “It’s Royal Ascot week and we can’t wait for the Flat’s premier meeting to get underway.
“Confucius has been the horse punters have latched onto most ahead of Royal Ascot and he’s comfortably our biggest ante-post liability of the week in the Coventry Stakes.
“He was available at 25/1 after his debut and a lot of the support arrived around the time Great Barrier Reef drifted markedly for the race.
“He’s one we’ll need to get beat early doors.
“At this stage, Confucius sits top of our liabilities list, with Albert Einstein in the Commonwealth Cup taking silver and Orthodox in the Norfolk completing the podium.
“It’s still a little early to call the biggest gamble of the meeting, but Reaching High is one we certainly must get beat as he’s a very bad result for the book.
“Given the make-up of Tuesday’s card, if a few of the short-priced favourites start delivering early on too, it could quickly become one of those days bookmakers have to work very hard to contain.
“The multiples could start to build to put us in a very sticky situation, so we’re fearing a Royal winner on day one!
“In terms of other market movers, Confucius is right up there, but Venetian Sun deserves a mention too.
“We opened Commonwealth Cup betting almost a year ago and she was introduced at 25/1, so that’s been a notable move over time into her current price of 7/4.
“More recently, Gilded Prize has attracted strong support in the Ribblesdale.
“She was 12/1 at the six-day entry stage and is now into 4/1, helped in part by uncertainty over whether fellow Juddmonte filly Legacy Link lines up against her.”
Liam McLaughlan 
Michael Davey