Royal Ascot: Standout races

All eyes will be on Ascot Racecourse for 2024’s Royal Ascot in June, and here we take a look at some of this year’s standout races.

There is barely more than a month to go until the highly prestigious Royal Ascot returns to the historic and very famous Ascot Racecourse for the 2024 renewal of this famous festival of world-class horse racing. This year’s event will of course be taking place over five days, from Tuesday 18th June to Saturday 22nd June 2024.

This will be King Charles III’s second Royal Ascot as Monarch, and he will be in a Royal Procession alongside other members of the Royal Family at this year’s event. This is of course an annual tradition that is a memorable moment for all in attendance.

Trainers up and down the country will have their eyes on success this year, and as of the time of writing, it its Aidan O’Brien who has the most wins of any trainer to have participated in this event with no less than 85 wins to his name. He is three ahead of Sir Michael Stoute in second with a total of 82 wins in his illustrious career.

As for jockeys, Lester Piggott holds the prestigious record of having the most wins with no less than 116, which took place over the course of 41 years, from 1952 to 1993. No-one else currently comes too close to his total, and Piggott has also won the famous Ascot Gold Cup on no less than 11 occasions.

There are a number of races that stand out over all of the five days at Royal Ascot every year, and here we are going to take a look at some of the races that will catch your eye at Ascot Racecourse this year. We shall start with the St James’s Palace Stakes.

This year’s St James’s Palace Stakes will take place on Tuesday 18th June 2024 – the first day of racing. It is a Group One Race that offers no less than £500,000 for the winner, and last year, in 2023, the winner was Paddington, who was ridden by Jockey Ryan Moore. Moore guided his horse to victory ahead of the likes of Frankie Dettori’s Chaldean and David Egan’s Charyn, who had to settle for second and third place respectively.

Ryan Moore is also famous for being the jockey who won the 2013 Ascot Gold Cup with Estimate for Queen Elizabeth II. The 2024 edition of the famous Ascot Gold Cup is set to offer the winner prize money worth £500,000, and it will be taking place on Day Three, which will be on Thursday 20^th June.

Speaking of the Ascot Gold Cup, it is seen by many as the most famous race taking place at Royal Ascot every year. It has a rich history that began back in 1807, and it is the aforementioned Lester Piggott with the most wins. His 11 successes came in 1957 (Zarathustra), 1958 (Gladness), 1961 (Pandofell), 1963 (Twilight Alley), and 1965 (Fighting Charlie), with Sagaro winning three successive times in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Ardross was his final winner in this race in 1982, but this was a second successive win for this horse with a win with Sagaro also coming in 1981.

Finally, another notable race comes in the form of the Platinum Jubilee Stakes on the fifth and final day of proceedings at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 22nd June. It is the race that offers the winner the most prize money alongside the Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Day Two, with the winner of both of these races getting no less than £1,000,000.

This is just a selection of some of Royal Ascot’s standout races, and there are a number of other races that will catch the eye of horse racing fans everywhere.

With the 2024 renewal of the iconic and illustrious Royal Ascot underway in a matter of weeks at Ascot Racecourse, excitement, and anticipation are certainly on the rise amongst horse racing fans.

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