The ladies wore their hats but bookies lost their shirts after heavily favoured horses trained by Aidan O’Brien won big races at Royal Ascot and left Ladbrokes nursing a decline in half-year profits.

For the six months to June 30, revenue rose from £586.9m to £614.8m. But pre-tax profit suffered an 18 per cent drop to £126.7m after it was hit by unfavourable sporting results and a dearth of “high rollers”.