If the Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the British National Hunt racing season, it is difficult to argue that Royal Ascot is not the summer equivalent for Flat racing fans. Awarded the ‘Royal’ epithet in 1911, during the reign of King George V, and extended to the current five days in 2002, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Royal Ascot is, nowadays, the most popular and valuable race meeting staged in Britain.
Attracting approximately 300,000 visitors over the five days, Royal Ascot features a total of 35 races, seven on each day – including eight of the 38 Group 1 races staged annually in Britain – and offers £10 million in prize money. Unsuprisingly, the meeting attracts the crème de la crème of horse racing talent not only from Britain, Ireland and France, but from as far afield as the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.
The oldest race run at Royal Ascot, and the traditional highlight of the week, is the Gold Cup, run over two and a half miles, open to horses aged four years and upwards and currently scheduled as the fourth race on the third day. Nowadays a prestigious Grade 1 contest, worth £650,000 in total prize money, the Gold Cup was first run in 1807, during the reign of King George III. The distinction of being the most valuable race of the week is held, jointly, by the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, run over a mile and a quarter and open to horses aged four years and upwards, and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, run over six furlongs and likewise open to older horses; both are worth £1 million in total prize money.
Listed and Pattern races aside, the Royal Ascot programme also currently includes 11 fiercely-competitive handicap races. Two of the most notable are the Royal Hunt Cup, run over a mile, and the Wokingham Stakes, run over six furlongs.