With the 2024 U.S. Triple Crown season accomplished, the main focus of the horse racing world shifts from Saratoga Race Course to throughout the pond for one of the prestigious occasions on the annual calendar. The five-day Royal Ascot meet begins Tuesday, June 18, at attractive Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, England. The royal assembly will carry lots of the high horses in the UK and Eire, and a handful from the U.S., collectively for 35 races with a complete of £10,050,000 (about $12.75 million U.S.) in prize cash up for grabs.
Royal Ascot is much like large U.S. occasions such because the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup World Championships as a result of it’s about far more than simply horse racing. The 5 days are crammed with trend, superstar watching, and an historic model of pomp and circumstance tied into the British monarchy (Ascot Racecourse was based by Queen Anne in 1711).
This yr would be the second Royal Ascot meet with King Charles III on the throne; Queen Elizabeth II, a number one ambassador for worldwide horse racing, served as monarch for 70 years till her loss of life on Sept. 8, 2022.
Whereas the complete Royal Ascot expertise is a significant attraction for throngs of Brits wanting to take pleasure in a spotlight of the summer season social calendar in individual, for many of us Yanks it’s the horses, TV protection, and betting which might be the main focus. Take pleasure in ABR’s information to the 2024 Royal Ascot assembly.
When It Occurs:
The meet runs from Tuesday, June 18 by means of Saturday, June 22. Seven races are carded every day, and the primary submit is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET (2:30 p.m. native time). The final race every day is scheduled to run at 1:15 p.m. ET (6:15 p.m. native time).
Main Races:
Eight of the 35 races at Royal Ascot are Group 1 stakes (the very best worldwide ranking). Three of these Group 1 races are held on opening day, June 18: the Queen Anne Stakes for horses 4 years previous and older; the King Charles III Stakes for horses 3 years previous and older; and the St. James’ Palace Stakes for 3-year-old colts.
On Wednesday, June 19, horses 4 years previous and older will contest the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and on Thursday, June 20, horses 4 years previous and older will sq. off in a real take a look at of stamina within the Gold Cup at 2 ½ miles.
Two extra Group 1 stakes are set for Friday, June 21: the Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-old colts and fillies and the Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Lastly, on Saturday, June 22, horses 4 years previous and older will race within the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. The King Charles III Stakes on Tuesday is a five-furlong dash, and the Jubilee on closing day is held at six furlongs – and it’s not unprecedented for horses to look in each of them throughout the identical week.
4 races in the course of the assembly are “Win and You’re In” Problem Sequence qualifiers for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, to be held on Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar in California. Winners of those 4 stakes will obtain assured, expenses-paid spots within the beginning gate for designated Breeders’ Cup races. The aforementioned Queen Anne Stakes and King Charles III Stakes on Tuesday are “Win and You’re In” qualifiers for the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Introduced by PDJF and the Breeders’ Cup Turf Dash, respectively. Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes is a Problem Sequence qualifier for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. The Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, a five-furlong sprint held because the opening race on Royal Ascot’s Thursday June 20 card, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Dash.
The place to Watch:
NBC Sports activities will present racing from Royal Ascot, with the Tuesday to Friday races obtainable on its Peacock streaming service. The races on Saturday, June 22, might be broadcast dwell on NBC and in addition on Peacock, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports activities app beginning at 9 a.m. ET. Streaming will start on Peacock at 8:30 a.m. ET Tuesday by means of Friday, with Nick Luck main the protection.
The complete Royal Ascot meet will even be televised dwell every day on FanDuel TV.
The way to Wager:
Betting on the ponies within the U.Ok. is completely different than stateside – you set mounted odds with a bookmaker comparable to Labrokes or William Hill and go from there. However there’ll be parimutuel swimming pools for U.S. horseplayers through advance deposit wagering (ADW) websites comparable to NYRA Bets, 1/ST BET, TwinSpires.com, TVG.com, and different entities.
Make sure you hold the time distinction in thoughts: many of the motion throughout Royal Ascot week might be within the morning for East Coast gamers – and the very early morning for these firing away within the Pacific Time Zone.
High U.S. Based mostly Horses:
The American coach with one of the best monitor document at Royal Ascot with out query is Wesley Ward, who has received a complete of 12 races at Royal Ascot beginning with two winners in his first journey again in 2009. The Kentucky-based Ward, who received an Eclipse Award as excellent apprentice jockey in 1984 however transitioned to coaching within the Nineties, is famend for creating each 2-year-olds and turf sprinters, and people two teams characterize nearly all of his winners on the Royal Ascot.
This yr, Ward is sending three 2-year-old fillies and one 2-year-old colt to the Royal Ascot meet as he goals to achieve the winner’s circle for the primary time since 2021. The coach instructed Byron King of BloodHorse that his filly Ultima Grace, who received her debut racing 4 ½ furlongs on grime at Keeneland by 3 ¾ lengths, would contest the Queen Mary Stakes, a Group 2 stakes held at 5 furlongs on turf on Wednesday, June 19. Corridor of Fame rider John Velazquez has the mount.
One other one among Ward’s promising juvenile fillies, Saturday Flirt, is concentrating on the Breeders’ Cup qualifier Norfolk Stakes on Thursday, June 20. That daughter of Mendelssohn received her 5 ½-furlong turf debut at Keeneland by 1 ½ lengths. The final of the trio, Burning Pine, will run within the six-furlong, Group 3 Albany Stakes Friday, June 21, per Ward, with Joel Rosario, who’s elected this yr to the Corridor of Fame, tabbed to experience. Burning Pine received by 3 ½ lengths going 4 ½ furlongs on grime with Rosario aboard at Keeneland.
Ward mentioned in an interview with Horse Racing Nation web site that Honorary American, a 2-year-old Irish-bred son of Churchill, would journey to Ascot. The colt completed third in his debut on the Belmont on the Large A meet racing 5 ½ furlongs on turf in late Might and punched his ticket to England with a stable exercise over turf at Keeneland on June 8. Search for him within the listed Windsor Fort Stakes going 5 furlongs on Wednesday, June 19.
Final yr at Royal Ascot, Crimson Advocate was the one U.S.-based winner on the meet, taking the Queen Mary Stakes by a nostril and giving coach George Weaver his first Royal Ascot win and jockey John Velazquez his fourth profession win on the meet. The Nyquist filly is again at age 3 to attempt for an additional trophy, this time concentrating on the abovementioned King Charles III Stakes on opening Tuesday – however she is transferring from Weaver to trainers John and Thady Gosden and can stay in Europe after Royal Ascot is over, in accordance with Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.
Crimson Advocate earned an automated berth to the 2023 Royal Ascot meet by profitable the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes on turf at Gulfstream Park, one among two turf stakes for 2-year-olds on the Hallandale Seashore, Fla., monitor held within the spring that provide qualifying invitations to Royal Ascot. This yr, one other Gulfstream runner can also be set to make the journey. Gabaldon, winner of the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes, would be the first Royal Ascot runner for south Florida-based coach Jose D’Angelo. D’Angelo will carry Gulfstream Park jockey Emisael Jaramillo with him to experience Gabaldon, who’s entered within the Windsor Fort together with Honorary American and one other U.S.-based 2-year-old, Cheval de Guerre. That Caravaggio colt, skilled by Eddie Kenneally, completed second by a neck in his 5 ½-furlong debut on turf at Keeneland.
Lastly, veteran 5-year-old Missed the Lower, a California-based graded stakes winner on each grime and turf for coach John Sadler, is concentrating on the Hardwicke Stakes, a Group 2 stakes on the Saturday, June 22 closing-day card held at 1 ½ miles. Missed the Lower really started his racing profession in England again in 2022 and owns a stakes win on an all-weather monitor there. He’s in good type this spring, profitable two graded stakes on turf at 1 ¼ and 1 ½ miles and most lately ending second within the 1 ½-mile, Grade 2 VisitLex Elkhorn Stakes on turf at Keeneland. Sadler instructed Every day Racing Type’s Steve Andersen that British jockey James Doyle has the using task on Missed the Lower.
