Royal Ascot Tips for Friday: 33/1 Novus is Tony Calvin's best bet on Day 4

• 11.010/1 Lezoo chanced in the Commonwealth Cup

• Two-handed in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes

• 33/134.00 Novus Tony's bet of the day in Sandringham

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Royal Ascot - 14:30: No Bet

Sorry to be predictable but I really struggle to have any opinion at all in these massive-field 2yo races.

Don't get me wrong, I try to nick as much information as I can from the Time Bandits, though the problem there is all of their big figure horses invariably head the market.

Take Carla's Way in the Albany at 14:30.

Everything time-related I have read or heard on this race has centred on the once-rated Doncaster winner, but she is just 4.94/1 on the exchange, facing any number of fillies with similar profiles, so this race is a big fat "No" once again as a betting race for me.

Royal Ascot - 15:05: Back Lezoo

In the lead-up to the Commonwealth Cup at 15:05, every tipster and his dog (or pet of choice) has seemed to be putting up Little Big Bear as their lay of the meeting.

Well, they have a chance to get him in the can at his shortest-ever price now as his odds have gone one way in the last 10 days or so and he now trades at around 2.26/5.

The doubters may well be right, as his Haydock win proved relatively little - though he wins this by daylight, no arguments, at his brilliant 2yo best - and my angle into opposing him has been the more indirect play of backing Lezoo each way.

I put her up at 10/111.00 each way as my ante-post bet of the meeting at Betfair's Royal Ascot Preview show last Monday, so I have to remain loyal, even if I didn't like her being drawn 14 of 14.

I hate being housed on the wing in sprints, as you are often an innocent victim of pace and track position.

However, I think she remains best placed to down the favourite.

Okay, she was beaten 13 ½ lengths in the 1,000 Guineas last time, but she looked an obvious non-stayer on soft ground that may not suited either.

Judged on her excellent 2yo form, which included a course win and a Group 1 Cheveley Park defeat of Meditate and Mawj, she will be hard to kick out of the frame.

If you want to back her each way, then be my guest - it's a perfectly good play at 9/110.00, and I will probably have that win and place play myself - but I am going to stick her up win-only here at 11.010/1 or bigger. Hopefully, the good week of Ralph Beckett continues.

Royal Ascot - 15:40: Back Teumessias Fox & Global Heat

Regular listeners of our Racing Only Bettor podcasts will know I like reeling out a string numbers.

So here we go again: 18-19-12-12-14-19-19-21-12-10.

They are the last 10 winning stalls of the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at 15:40, and that is the only thing that puts me off Teumessias Fox from stall six.

Well, that and possibly a tight enough price, given that draw.

The positives for him are plentiful, though.

He comes in here in rude form after a clear-cut win at Newmarket last time (a 7lb rise was very acceptable) and he has looked a different beast since gelded.

Well, presumably less of a beast but you get my drift.

He is rated 104 now but he is a half-brother to some highly talented sorts like Zabeel Prince and Queen Power, and surely the lead is Oisin Murphy's to take if he so wishes. There is precious little pace competition if he wants to go on.

He also has good course form. He finished sixth in the King George V handicap last year as a 50/151.00 poke (hit trouble in running from stall 2) and then went on to finish second to Soulcombe here, and the winner went on to win the Melrose by 4 ¼ lengths and who hacked up on in a Grade 3 handicap after being sold to Australia.

In short, low draw or not, you have to have him onside and I will be backing him at 6/17.00 each-way, five places, with the Sportsbook.

I am also having a few quid on Global Heat, drawn in 17, each-way, too.

I have a fair degree of success with this Saeed bin Suroor stable and I liked the way he stuck on after trying to put it to the all-the-way winner at Haydock last time (I was going to name the winner but he is very hard to spell correctly) and a 1lb drop was a bonus.

Every little helps in these Ascot handicaps.

All his best efforts have come in a visor, so I like the fact he is back in that after he wore the cheekpieces at Haydock, and this is a horse who wasn't disgraced in Group company in Dubai earlier this year, and won a Listed event.

A more restrained ride from stall 17 could see him going close here and he was a big price at 33/134.00 on Wednesday (still is in a place, to be fair). I am happy to back him at 25/126.00 each way with the Sportsbook, though.

Royal Ascot - 16:20: No Bet

The seven-runner Coronation Stakes at 16:20 is one short of being a brilliant each-way heat, so I won't take up too much of your time here.

As I said on the Betfair Preview show last week, I thought Meditate at 8/19.00 was an excellent each-way ante-post punt but of course we now have only two places and that angle has gone.

But I sense there is a confidence in the Aidan O'Brien camp that they can get the better of Tahiyra at their fourth attempt, so I wouldn't put you off a win-only bet on Meditate at the current 6.611/2 or bigger.

Royal Ascot - 17:00: Back Novus

Novus opened up at 40/141.00 in places and 33/134.00 everywhere else on Wednesday, and she is my only play in the 30-runner Sandringham at 17:00.

Given that most of the pace is middle to high (Foniska will look to go forward from 4) I love her draw in 29 and Novus is a big price off a mark of 86.

She beat the now 91-rated Physique in her Newbury maiden success last year, she ran very well against a track bias on her return at Newmarket, and she emerged from the fog at Goodwood last time, charging home to take it up close home and win well on soft ground.

She has only gone up 2lb for that neck win over 7f and the step up to 1m for the first time must be a massive help on run-style and pedigree. She is by sprinter Dandy Man but the dam was a 1m6f winner, and she is a half-sister to the 2m scorer Fleurman.

The more I looked, the more I loved the chances of this Gary Moore filly, who showed she handled fast ground on her debut.

Back her at 33/134.00 each-way, six places, with the Sportsbook. She is my bet of the day.

Royal Ascot - 17:35: Back Artistic Star

I was despondent when my Derby tip Artistic Star patently failed to handle Epsom - at one point I genuinely thought Rob Hornby was going up pull him up - and even more so when the horse he beat previously at Sandown, Torito, hacked up off a mark of 95 in a handicap on the card.

I have to give him another chance in the King Edward VII Stakes at 17:35.

He opened up at 14/115.00 in four places on Wednesday, and I managed to snaffle a bit of that - yet another aftertime alert, soz - but I am more than happy to press up at 8.415/2 or bigger now. I was expecting around 6/17.00, and the opening prices on Wednesday were just plain wrong. In fact, I would advise you take the Sportsbook's 15/28.50 if it is still there when you read this. That's the best play.

Clearly, the Derby runner-up King Of Steel will take plenty of whacking -and they think Continuous is a lot better than he showed in France last time - but I am paying to find out just how good Artistic Star is on a more conventional track.

Royal Ascot - 18:10: No Bet

I haven't got a betting opinion in the 5f handicap at 18:10 but should any stable-switcher going to George Boughey, in this instance from Kevin Ryan be a 40/141.00 chance, as Thunder Moor was on Wednesday?

That was taken and he is a general 25/126.00 and 33/134.00 chance, which is fair.

However, he was bought back in October for 50k, he hasn't been since and has been gelded too, so maybe he has had big problems and is he is a social runner?

I am happy to leave this race alone, as it does have a nightmare look to it.

Good luck, all.

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Read Ryan Moore on his Royal Ascot Day 4 Rides here

Read Kevin Blake's tips for Friday at Royal Ascot here

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Racing... Only Bettor Royal Ascot Day 4. Watch now.