Results at the 2008 Royal Ascot meeting have been blamed for the drop in profits experienced by Ladbrokes during the first half of this year.
Christopher Bell, chief executive for the betting company, suggested that the larger than usual number of victories from the favourites at the race meeting contributed to the £28.3 million post-tax fall from 2007.
"Following a strong first four months of the year, June suffered a string of poor results affecting all channels, most notably Royal Ascot and the early stages of Euro 2008," he remarked.
Aidan O'Brien and his chief rider Johnny Murtagh dominated Royal Ascot this year.
Murtagh won the top jockey honours, while O'Brien added several more Group One titles to his collection as he chases a new world record.
Despite the declining profits, Mr Bell was positive about the situation and implied his firm is standing up well to ongoing economic pressures.
The post-tax profit was still above the £100 million mark.
Results at the 2008 Royal Ascot meeting have been blamed for the drop in profits experienced by Ladbrokes during the first half of this year.