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Oil at three-week high as US-Iran peace talks stall; China blocks Meta’s takeover of AI agent Manus – business live | Business
Oil at three-week high as US-Iran peace talks stall
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.
The new week begins with the oil price rising, again, as the stalled US-Iran peace talks threaten to extend disruption to crude supplies from the Middle East.
Brent crude has jumped about 2% this morning to a high of $107.97 a barrel, the highest level since the two sides agreed a ceasefire on 7 April.
Prices rose after Donald Trump cancelled his plan to send US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for ceasefire talks in Pakistan on Saturday, saying “too much time” has been “wasted on travelling”.
The US president then doubled down on this position, telling Fox News:
“If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us. You know, there is a telephone. We have nice, secure lines.”
However, there are signs of positive developments… Axios are reporting that Tehran has given the US a new proposal to reopen the strait of Hormuz, and end the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later date.
So, geopolitics will continue to dominate the markets, at the start of a big week, with several big central banks taking interest rates decisions in the days ahead.
As Mohit Kumar, economist at Jefferies, explains:
Talks have stalled between US and Iran as Iran has stated that it will not negotiate till the US blockade remains in place, while US has stated that it doesn’t know who it is negotiating with.
Our base case remains that we are moving towards a deal but tail risk of short term escalation remains. It is not in the interest of either parties to escalate further. The latest Iran proposal shows the wiliness of Iran to negotiate, while Trump already wants a deal. Hence, we believe that we will eventually move towards a deal, but with some speed bumps along the way.
The agenda
Key events
Pound at one-week high against the dollar
The pound has hit its highest level against the US dollar in just over a week.
Sterling has gained 0.2% against the dollar to $1.355 this morning, its highest level since Friday 17 April.
The dollar has dropped this morning, as investors anticipate change at the top of the US Federal Reserve.
Yesterday, Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he will allow Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh to face a vote in the Senate. That should clear the way for Donald Trump’s choice of Fed chair to take control of the US central bank.
Tillis dropped his opposition to a vote on Warsh after the Department of Justice said on Friday that it would drop its criminal investigation into current Fed chair Jay Powell, whose term ends next month.
German chemicals giant BASF is raising some of its prices for the second time since the Iran war began.
Bloomberg has the details:
The German manufacturer’s customers will see prices go up by an additional 25% on products in its antioxidant, process stabilizer and light stabilizer portfolio for plastic applications, BASF said Monday. The increase comes on top of a 20% hike announced on March 4 and is effective immediately.
BASF cited “substantial” gains in raw material, energy and logistic costs due to the Middle East conflict.
Emerging markets at record high, but can risk rally last?
Emerging market stocks have hit record highs today, as optimism over the AI sector drove stocks higher in Asia.
MSCI’s gauge of global emerging market shares has risen by 1.3%, having already risen in the previous four weeks.
That underlines how the markets have bounced back from their initial slump when the Iran war began – with the US and Japanese markets also at record highs – even though the conflict is not resolved.
Capital Economics has suggested that the current risk rally is on borrowed time while the strait of Hormuz remains closed
The chief markets economist, Jonas Goltermann, says:
If the diplomatic and military stalemate between the US and Iran continues, and the strait of Hormuz remain largely closed, policymakers and market participants will find it increasingly difficult to keep “looking through” the crisis.
The widespread assumption that the ongoing disruption to energy supply will generate only limited economic damage can probably sustain investors’ optimism for a while yet. But at some point the situation on the ground needs to actually improve, or that optimism will presumably start to fade.
China blocks Meta’s $2bn acquisition of AI startup Manus
Newsflash: Beijing has decided to block Meta Platforms from aquiring agentic AI startup Manus in a $2bn deal.
China’s state planner has prohibited foreign acquisition of Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus, ordering involved parties to cancel the transaction, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday (via Reuters).
The deal had caused controversy in China, sparking claims that it was an attempt to hollow out the country’s technology base,
Last year, Forbes called Manus’s product “a revolutionary AI agent capable of independent thought and action”, saying:
Manus is not just another chatbot, nor is it merely an improved search engine dressed in futuristic branding. It is the world’s first fully autonomous AI agent, a system that doesn’t just assist humans — it replaces them.
Adidas shares jump after London marathon
Shares in athletic apparel and footwear company Adidas have jumped by almost 1.75% in early trading after three of its athletes shone at the London Marathon yesterday.
Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha both smashed the two-hour barrier in the men’s marathon race, and Tigist Assefa set a women-only world record in the women’s race.
All were wearing Adidas’s Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoe, and the company will be hoping for a sales boost from runners looking to lower their own times.
Patrick Nava, general manager at adidas Running, says:
The adidas family is incredibly proud of Sabastian and Tigist’s historic achievements, marking the fastest times humans have ever run in a marathon.
This is a testament to the years of hard work and dedication they have made, alongside our innovation team, who have built a supershoe which breaks new ground in the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3.”
Shares in Adidas have risen to €138.55, up €2.30 this morning.
Unicredit also have a note out on the oil market this morning, in which they warn:
The Iran war has triggered one of the largest disruptions to physical oil supply in modern history. While de‑escalation could ease some geopolitical risk premiums, the damage to production, exports and logistics means markets are unlikely to quickly return to pre‑war conditions.
Goldman Sachs raises oil price forecast as war disruption hits production
The deadlock in the Middle East confict has prompted Goldman Sachs to raise its oil price forecast.
Goldman Sachs now estimate that Brent crude will trade at about $90 a barrrel in the last quarter of this year, up from an earlier projection of $80. US crude is forecast to average $83 in October-December, up from $75 before.
Goldman blames “lower Persian Gulf production” for the upgrade, telling clients:
We now assume a normalisation in Gulf exports by end-June (v mid-May prior) and a slower Gulf production recovery. The economic risks are larger than our crude base case alone suggests because of the net upside risks to oil prices, unusually high refined product prices, products shortages risks, and the unprecedented scale of the shock.
Goldman’s analysts estimate that 14.5m barrels a day of Persian Gulf crude production has been lost, leading to a record drawdown of global oil inventories of 11m-12m barrels a day this month.
The jump in oil prices will lead to ‘softer demand’, they explain:
We assume that global oil demand falls on a year-over-year basis by 1.7mb/d in 2026Q2 and 0.1mb/d in 2026 given the jump in refined product prices. Because extreme inventory draws are not sustainable, even sharper demand losses could be required if the supply shock persists longer.
Goldman also warns that the risks to its forecasts are to the upsides, and lay out three scenarios for how events could unfold:
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Adverse scenario: Brent 2026Q4 would average just over $100 assuming Gulf exports only normalise by end-July.
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Severely adverse scenario: Brent 2026Q4 would average at nearly $120 assuming Gulf exports normalise by end-July and 2.5mb/d of persistent reduction to Gulf capacity. This 2.5mb/d of scarring is equivalent to Hormuz flows not recovering above 70% (till pipeline capacity is expanded).
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Benign scenario: Brent 2026Q4 would average just under $80 assuming Gulf exports normalise by mid-June, no capacity reduction, and stronger US and core OPEC supply responses.
[Goldman had previously trimmed their forecast for the oil price earlier this month, after the US-Iran ceasefire was announced]
Supermarket chain J Sainsbury is the top faller on the FTSE 100 in early trading, after a broker downgrade.
Goldman Sachs have cut their rating in Sainsbury’s from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’, lowering their share price forecast to 335p from 390p.
In response, Sainsbury’s shares are down 3.4% to 333p.
European stock markets have opened modestly higher, as investors try to assess the situation in the Middle East.
Axios’s report that Iran has given the US a new proposal to reopen the strait of Hormuz may have brightened the mood a little.
Germany’s Dax index is up 0.4% in early trading, with France’s CAC 40 up 0.25%.
The UK’s FTSE 100 index is flat, though.
This week is going to be extremely busy for financial news.
Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank, explains:
Looking ahead, with central bank meetings for every G7 country this week — alongside 44% of the S&P 500 reporting by market capitalisation, including five of the Mag 7 — it is shaping up to be a blockbuster week, even before factoring in ongoing Iranian war newsflow.
The Bank of Japan meets tomorrow, followed by the Fed and the Bank of Canada on Wednesday. Thursday then brings decisions from the ECB and the Bank of England. All are expected to remain on hold, but the key question will be how each central bank’s reaction function is shaped by the conflict and the associated stagflation risks.
European gas prices are rising a little at the start of trading.
The month-ahead UK gas contract is up 0.8% at 112.8p a therm – up from 80p before the Iran war began but below the high of 180p hit in mid-March.
Continential European gas is up a similar amount; the next-month Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures contract has risen to €45.21 a megawatt hour.
Japan’s Nikkei hits record high over 60,000 points on peace talk hopes
Hopes of a breakthrough to end the Middle East conflict have pushed Japan’s stock market to a new record high.
The Nikkei 225 index has ended the day at a new closing high, up almost 1.4% to hit 60,537 points.
Stocks jumped after Axios reported that Iran has given the US a new proposal to end their war, which helped to calm nerves after President Trump cancelled his envoys’ trip to Pakistan for peace talks.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, says:
The mood is slightly better this morning than it was into the weekend, as Iran reportedly offered the US a proposal to reopen the strait of Hormuz — a move that could pave the way for the continuation of peace talks between the two parties.
Predicted house price growth in UK halved due to Middle East conflict
UK estate agent Knight Frank has halved its house price growth predictions for this year, citing the economic shocks caused by the Iran conflict.
Knight Frank now expects UK house price growth of 1.5% this year, down from a forecast of 3% last September. Growth is then expected to rise to 3% in 2027, down from 4% before.
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, says:
The Middle East conflict has pushed mortgage rates higher, dampened buyer sentiment and fuelled speculation about how the government will respond to the resulting economic shock.
This hat-trick of headwinds means we have revised down our near-term house price forecasts.
Oil at three-week high as US-Iran peace talks stall
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.
The new week begins with the oil price rising, again, as the stalled US-Iran peace talks threaten to extend disruption to crude supplies from the Middle East.
Brent crude has jumped about 2% this morning to a high of $107.97 a barrel, the highest level since the two sides agreed a ceasefire on 7 April.
Prices rose after Donald Trump cancelled his plan to send US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for ceasefire talks in Pakistan on Saturday, saying “too much time” has been “wasted on travelling”.
The US president then doubled down on this position, telling Fox News:
“If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us. You know, there is a telephone. We have nice, secure lines.”
However, there are signs of positive developments… Axios are reporting that Tehran has given the US a new proposal to reopen the strait of Hormuz, and end the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later date.
So, geopolitics will continue to dominate the markets, at the start of a big week, with several big central banks taking interest rates decisions in the days ahead.
As Mohit Kumar, economist at Jefferies, explains:
Talks have stalled between US and Iran as Iran has stated that it will not negotiate till the US blockade remains in place, while US has stated that it doesn’t know who it is negotiating with.
Our base case remains that we are moving towards a deal but tail risk of short term escalation remains. It is not in the interest of either parties to escalate further. The latest Iran proposal shows the wiliness of Iran to negotiate, while Trump already wants a deal. Hence, we believe that we will eventually move towards a deal, but with some speed bumps along the way.
The agenda
UK News
Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to own a firearm in latest case expanding gun rights – live | US supreme court
Supreme court backs challenge to ban on gun ownership for drug users
The supreme court has sided with a marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun, the latest in a line of firearm cases from a court that has expanded gun rights.
In a 9-0 ruling, the justices sided with Ali Danial Hemani, a resident of Texas who was charged with felony gun possession after he acknowledged being a regular marijuana user. Hemani wasn’t charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence.
The 1968 Gun Control Act makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”.
That gun restriction led to the 2024 conviction of Hunter Biden, who later that year received a pardon from his father, then-president Joe Biden. Prosecutors had accused him of lying about his use of narcotics in 2018 when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun.
Hemani argued that a federal law barring gun ownership from anyone who uses drugs illegally violates the constitution’s second amendment.
The decision is a loss for the Trump administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions.
Key events
Supreme court releases opinions
The supreme court has started releasing opinions, so far it has issued a ruling backing a challenge to a federal law barring drug users from owning guns.
We’ll bring you any more updates here as we get them.
Indeed, this morning’s Washington Post Early Brief (paywall) asks the question: “Are we back to where we started on Iran?”
The memorandum ends the fighting, reopens the strait of Hormuz and gives Trump a chance to claim he prevented a broader economic crisis. But many of its core terms appear to return the US and Iran to roughly where they were before the conflict: with Iran’s government still in power and its long-term nuclear commitments still unresolved.
Before the war, the strait of Hormuz saw the free flow of shipping, including roughly a fifth of the world’s oil traffic. Reopening the water way essentially restores the status quo.
Iran and the US had also already engaged in negotiations – albeit brokenly – on a framework over Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions. The negotiations were in pursuit of a deal to replace the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama, which Trump vehemently criticized and left during his first term.
The terms of the MOU diverge substantially from Trump’s initial threats to obliterate Iran unless it agreed to “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” back in March. And it diverged from long-standing conservative criticisms of Obama’s deal that lifted sanctions on Iran.
After Donald Trump’s signing of the 14-point agreement with Iran yesterday at the Palace of Versailles – the home of humiliating treaties – the question of what the president’s war was actually for continues to divide some Republicans and foreign policy hawks.
GOP senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the memorandum of understanding yesterday (from this to this) after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“After this discussion, it is my opinion that signing the MOU will be beneficial to the United States, in as much as the strait of Hormuz will begin to open, and the hostilities with Iran will stop,” Graham wrote on X. “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying.”
But a handful of other Senate Republicans were more scathing in their views.
Outgoing Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who Trump failed to back in a tightly fought primary last month, said that the whole affair had Ronald Reagan “rolling over in his grave”. He wrote on X:
Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future.
Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.
Ted Cruz, who has backed the war, said the president was getting “very poor advice when it comes to this deal”.
Susan Rice, a former official in the Obama and Biden administrations was more blunt in her assessment, calling it “the biggest national security blunder in decades”, while Democratic senator Adam Schiff said it was “hard to imagine a more thorough capitulation”.
Iran gets sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds, the ability to export oil, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund. The US gets a reiteration of the vague promise Iran won’t develop a nuke.
In case you missed it, last night Donald Trump signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the United States – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”.
In extraordinary remarks yesterday, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
Those remarks, as well as the full text of the agreement – which was hailed by the Hezbollah chief, Naim Qassem, as a “great victory” – are likely to fuel anger in Israel and among hardliners in the Republican party who had urged Trump not to make a deal with Tehran.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed the agreement yesterday from Tehran. US vice-president JD Vance is also expected to sign the deal at a more formal ceremony in Geneva tomorrow.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said:
The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.
Supreme court to release opinions with several high-stakes rulings to come including birthright citizenship
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
The supreme court is expected to render at least one judgment today as the term is set to come to an end later this month. There are a series of cases yet to be decided that are relevant to Donald Trump, including his attempt to limit birthright citizenship and plan to remove legal protection from Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
Generally, terms last between October and late June – but the most significant cases are often left until the end of the term.
There are two main immigration-based decisions yet to be made. One pending ruling is on Trump’s desire to ban birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and those whose parents are temporary residents.
“Birthright citizenship is one of America’s most consequential commitments – the idea that where you are born, not where your parents came from, determines your belonging to this nation,” said Adam Strom, executive director and co-founder of Reimagining Migration, in The74. “For the millions of immigrant-origin children in our schools, this isn’t an abstraction. It’s the ground they stand on.”
The court also has a case that will decide if the US can terminate the Temporary Protected Status that has allowed Haitian and Syrian immigrants to live and work in the country.
Other significant cases include Trump’s wish to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
In other news:
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Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the US. The Guardian’s Andrew Roth argues that the US entered war with maximalist goals and exited it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite political cost.
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A teenager has died after being thrown to the ground on Wednesday when a Central Park carriage horse bolted away from its driver, police in New York have said.
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On Wednesday, court proceedings revealed that Luigi Mangione’s legal team plans on pursuing a psychiatric defense during his upcoming Manhattan state court trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
Forwarder, a Russian-flagged ship which left port in Primorsk last week, entered the Channel on Wednesday evening.
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Key events
Greg Wood
Gosden and O’Brien rivalry crackles in Gold Cup
The rivalry between top trainers John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien is a long way short of a feud – “Aidan and I are big rivals”, Gosden said on Wednesday, “but we get on and we tease each other a lot. There’s no harm in that and it’s a little bit of banter.”
But it still makes for an interesting undercurrent as Gosden’s Trawlerman, bidding to become only the second eight-year-old winner since 1900, takes on the up-and-coming Scandinavia, last year’s St Leger winner, in the feature event of the week.
Gosden’s “teasing” has included frequent references to the big teams of runners that Ballydoyle sends to many Group Ones, and when O’Brien suggested last autumn that he would love to see Ombudsman, the winner of Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes, line up for the Irish Champion Stakes, Gosden responded that his stable star would not “appreciate running against multiple entries from one stable on a track with a short straight.”
The possibility that Ballydoyle was employing “team tactics” with its runners was also highlighted after Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes, when Christophe Soumillon, on the O’Brien second-string, Puerto Rico, picked up an eight-day ban for riding “in a manner to benefit” his stable companion and second-favourite, Gstaad.
There is little chance of a dust-up over tactics in the Gold Cup, however, as Scandinavia is O’Brien’s only runner in the race and Trawlerman is likely to make his own running. The regular to-and-fro between the two trainers, though, will add extra spice to the closing stages if Trawlerman and Scandinavia are duking it out in the final furlong.
Greg Wood
6.10 BUCKINGHAM PALACE STAKES HANDICAP preview
The money is all for runners in high-numbered stalls in the finale, and that’s hardly surprising given the way that races on the straight course have been unfolding this week. Jack Channon’s Mezcala, in stall 30, is currently a narrow favourite and remains feasibly handicapped dropping back to seven furlongs from a mile, while Cosi Bello (26) was a bit better than his narrow winning margin might imply at Haydock last time and also has form in a big field on this course. Elerak, highest of all in 31, is also attracting support to give Billy Loughnane another winner at the meeting, while Blue Brother, unraced since suffering all manner of bad luck when fancied for the Hunt Cup here last summer, is another fascinating contender from stall 28.
Timeform top-rated: Dance In The Storm
SELECTION: BLUE BROTHER
Greg Wood
5.35 HAMPTON COURT STAKES preview
Not the loftiest event on the Royal Ascot schedule by any means, but still an interesting contest for three-year-olds that are just below the top rung, for the moment at least, and it occasionally highlights a colt on the way to better things. Endorsement, the Aidan O’Brien-trained favourite, was still engaged in the Derby until quite late in the day, and drops back to 10 furlongs having skated up in a Listed race over a mile-and-a-half just a fortnight ago. Maho Bay too was seen as a possible for a run in the Derby until blotting his copy book by finishing fourth behind Maltese Cross in the Lingfield Derby Trial, but the winner there went on to finish second at Epsom and so the form may well be better than it seems. The list of Derby trial disappointments also includes Morshdi, fifth in the Dante, while Oxagon, the Craven Stakes winner in April, has failed to build on that in two runs since, though the latest was admittedly a Classic as he finished 12th of 16 in the French Derby at Chantilly. Generic, meanwhile, was seven lengths behind Constitution River – surely the best three-year-old colt seen out this year – in the Dee Stakes at Chester, having only started his racing career in March, and will also be bang there on that form with only marginal improvement.
Timeform top-rated: Endorsement.
SELECTION: GENERIC
Greg Wood
4.50 BRITANNIA STAKES preview
This straight-mile handicap for three-year-olds is, for me at least, the toughest Royal Ascot test of them all from a betting point of view – looking down the list of previous winners, I’m fairly sure that Perotto, in 2021, is the only winner I’ve had this century – and this year’s renewal looks as competitive as always. It looks as though I’ve managed to find the favourite, though, as David Marnane’s Jamestown has attracted plenty of support this morning, and has both the high draw and the run style that you need to be looking for on the straight course this week. A list of dangerous opponents is effectively everything else – even the 80-1 shot Winding Stream is within 7lb of the top-rated horse on Timeform’s numbers and was racing in Group company last time – but We’re Goosers is sure to be popular as a result of his nine-and-a-half length win last time, and so too Organise, from the John & Thady Gosden yard, who was touched off in a well-run race last time and sports first-time cheekpieces today. Moonfall, an eye-catcher at Chester in May, and Exclusive Code, the winner of a big-field maiden at Newbury, are also on the short-list, but frankly, your guess is as good as mine.
Timeform top-rated: We’re Goosers.
SELECTION: JAMESTOWN
An inaugural “Royal Ascot colour of the year” has been introduced this year, and on Gold Cup day guests were encouraged to wear their best “bright tomato” shade as part of the dress code. This chap got the memo.
Oddschecker market movers
Greg Wood
4.15 GOLD CUP preview
The staying division is currently missing a truly “public” horse like the three-time winner, Stradivarius, but Trawlerman, last year’s winner, will be a stern test for the posse of four-year-olds in this year’s Gold Cup field that could conceivably run up a sequence over the next few years if all goes well. The list is headed by Aidan O’Brien’s Scandinavia, last year’s St Leger winner, who arrives in Berkshire looking for a sixth straight success, while Rahiebb and Carmers, second and fifth at Doncaster, are also looking to establish themselves as Cup horses with a win in the most prestigious staying event of them all. Other live runners include Al Riffa, last season’s Irish St Leger winner, for the Joseph O’Brien stable, and George Scott’s Caballo De Mar, a Group One winner over two miles in France last time out. My idea of the best bet in the race, though, is Carmers, on the basis that Trawlerman missed his intended prep race in May and may be slightly short of his best, while Paddy Twomey’s runner – who beat both Scandinavia and Rahiebb in the Queen’s Vase here last summer – has as much chance as either of his fellow four-year-olds of finding the necessary improvement stepping up to two-and-a-half miles.
Timeform top-rated: Trawlerman
SELECTION: CARMERS
Royal Ascot Procession List
1st Carriage
The King
The Queen
The Earl of Snowdon
Ms Isabelle de la Bruyère
2nd Carriage
The Princess Royal
Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence
The Duke of Edinburgh
The Duchess of Edinburgh
3rd Carriage
Princess Zahra Aga Khan
HH Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani
Mrs Zara Tindall
Mr Willie Mullins
4th Carriage
Lord Cavendish
Lady Cavendish
Mr Stanley Tucci
Ms Felicity Blunt
Stanley Tucci is in the carriages today. An acclaimed actor, of course, he’s also well known for his cooking so perhaps he helped with luncheon at Windsor Castle to which the carriage guests are invited before their trip down the track. Now you know why the racing doesn’t start till 2.30pm!
Andrew is innocent!
I know you would miss the regular royal spot ahead of the Royal Procession list announcement at noon if we didn’t share some and today’s concerns Lady Victoria Hervey who has arrived at the races today. For those unawarer she’s a British socialite and former model who dated Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) briefly in 1999. Throughout the fallout from his associations with Jeffrey Epstein, she has remained one of the prince’s most vocal defenders. In an interview with LBC in February, not only did she admit to being named in the Epstein files herself, but branded anyone who wasn’t as a “loser”. With friends like this …
Greg Wood
3.40 RIBBLESDALE STAKES preview
Sound the stat klaxon, it’s time for the one about Oaks runners in the Ribblesdale as Legacy Link attempts to win Ascot’s Group Two for three-year-old fillies having run in the Epsom Classic last time out. A total of 33 fillies have lined up for this race after running in the Oaks since 2010 and just two have won, with the list of beaten runners including three favourites and seven more that set off at 5-1 or shorter. It is a big ask, in other words, and Legacy Link, the Epsom runner-up behind impressive winner Thundering On, will deserve huge credit if she can pull it off on what will be her third start in just over a month. Earth Shot and French challenger Gilded Prize are the likeliest opponents to give her something to think about, and while neither managed to win last time out, both look sure to blossom over this trip. And there is a royal runner to look out for too, although Golden Orbit, a home-bred daughter of Sea The Stars who was a beaten favourite last time, is friendless in the market at 33-1 and the first-time blinkers will need to spark serious improvement.
Timeform top-rated: Legacy Link
SELECTION: EARTH SHOT
Greg Wood
3.05 KING GEORGE V STAKES HANDICAP preview
Plenty of future Group-race winners have won this handicap for three-year-olds in the past, and plenty have been beaten in it too, as it is a race that generally throws up a hard luck story or three. All but a handful of the 19 runners have shown enough promise already to be credible winners if they continue to progress, with Charlie Appleby’s Into the Light,Heyzoom (Owen Burrows) and Tierra Del Toro (Ralph Beckett) probably the most obvious names to note, alongside Joseph O’Brien’s Enceladus, with Ryan Moore booked to ride in the absence of a runner from the trainer’s dad’s stable. O’Brien jnr is having a stormer of a meeting so far, and was tied with O’Brien snr on three winners at the top of the trainers’ table after day two, and Enceladus is one of four from the stable in this race, including Cannes, the favourite, who got off the mark at the third attempt at Leopardstown in May. Heyzoom posted an excellent winning time when successful over 10 furlongs at Newbury last time, while Into The Light has been narrowly beaten on his last two starts but was given a lot to do by William Buick over a two-furlong shorter trip last time.
Timeform top-rated: Heyzoom.
SELECTION: HEYZOOM
2.30 CHESHAM STAKES preview
Aidan O’Brien’s first chance of the afternoon to get the one winner he needs to be the first trainer to a century at Royal Ascot comes via his colts Aix La Chapelle and second-string South Dakota, in a race that he has won five times in the last decade. Aix La Chapelle looked very rough around the edges on his debut at the Curragh just a fortnight ago but still ran out an easy winner and should find plenty for the experience. He is drawn in stall five, though, which is less than ideal on the evidence from the straight course over the first two days. Another leading Irish-trained runner, Fozzy Stack’s Nola Soul, also overcame greenness to win on debut and could give the favourite plenty to think about, while George Scott’s Sea Venture found all the trouble going on her first start over six furlongs before showing a smart turn of foot to win with plenty to spare. As a daughter of the Derby winner, Sea The Stars, she looks certain to improve for the extra furlong today.
Timeform top-rated: Aix La Chapelle
SELECTION: SEA VENTURE
Going to start putting up some previews of the day’s action from our racing correspondent and tipster Greg Wood, who is currently leading the national press challenge in the Racing Post.
Good morning. It was overcast this morning but no precipitation so the going for day three of Royal Ascot is: Good to Firm and there’s very little between the different sides of the track.
GoingStick readings at 8.30am:
Stands’ side: 8.8
Centre: 8.7
Far side: 8.7
Round course: 7.5
We have one non-runners so far so cross this off your list of possible wagers …
4.50pm Britannia Stakes: 16 Bobby McGee (vet’s certificate – temperature)
Preamble
Good morning from Ascot on the third morning of the Royal meeting 2026 – Gold Cup day – where Aidan O’Brien is poised to become the first trainer to saddle a century of winners at Flat racing’s showpiece event, having moved to 99 with a winner in the first race on Wednesday.
There are more races to aim at these days than there were in the era when the late Sir Henry Cecil racked up what was, at the time, a record 75 winners, and while the Sir Michael Stoute was active well into the five-day Ascot era and had saddled 82 by the time of his recent retirement, O’Brien’s record is still an astonishing achievement, even by the standards of the pre-eminent trainer of the last 25 years.
He has a total of seven runners on today’s card as he looks to reach three figures, including Scandinavia, the somewhat uneasy favourite, in the Gold Cup at 4.15 and opening up with Aix La Chapelle in the Chesham Stakes at 2.30.
Scandinavia’s main Gold Cup rival, according to the betting at least, is last year’s winner, Trawlerman, and there is now less than a point between them in the betting. Elsewhere on the day three card, the Oaks form gets an early test as Legacy Link, the Epsom runner-up, lines up for the Ribblesdale Stakes (3.40) just two weeks on from her big run in the Classic, while the Britannia Handicap at 4.50 could well turn out to be the most competitive event of the entire meeting – just two of the 30 runners are currently on offer at single-figure odds.
Another 5mm of water was applied overnight to maintain the going at good-to-firm, thoughts on possible winners are here, and the action is underway at 2.30 on what could be a historic day at Royal Ascot. One hundred is only a number, but it’s an impressive number all the same.
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