What You Need to Know about £10 Million Royal Ascot 2024

by , 6 June 2024

Ascot, founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, is a racecourse steeped in history and heritage. Every June, the Berkshire venue, home to 13 of Britain’s 36 annual Flat Group-1 races, hosts the world’s most prestigious race meeting, Royal Ascot. The five-day festival is the highlight of the British summer social calendar.

Kyprios, ridden by Ryan Moore, crosses the line ahead in the 2022 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. 

Kyprios (left) forges ahead in the 2022 Gold Cup. Can the Aidan O’Brien-trained horse could recapture his crown in 2024? ©Getty

This year, the equine stars will compete for £10 million in prize money at the Royal Meeting. The minimum prize is £110,000, and all Group-1 races are worth at least £650,000. Royal Ascot is a huge shop window for studs where stallions can dramatically increase their worth. Furthermore, mares and fillies can add zeros to their worth as potential broodmares.

Owners and trainers from around the world will descend on Ascot, bringing their finest thoroughbreds with them. As a result, competition at the famous venue will be highly competitive, and millions will be waged on the 35 races that will be held at the meeting. Here you can read our guide to Royal Ascot 2024.

What Are Royal Ascot’s Dates and Races?

Royal Ascot 2024 takes place over five days, from Tuesday, June 18th to Saturday, June 22nd. There are seven races each day, with the first contest due to start at 2.30 pm and the final race scheduled for 6.15 pm.

Three Group 1 races are on the opening day’s card: The Queen Anne Stakes, The King Charles III Stakes and The St James’s Palace Stakes. Complimented with the Group-2 Coventry Stakes, this is the most valuable Royal Ascot race day and an unmissable spectacle for racing purists.

The Prince of Wales’s Stakes headlines day two of Royal Ascot 2024. The Group-1 ten-furlong race for four-year-olds and older offers £1 million in prizemoney. There are three Group-2 contests on the seven-race card: The Queen Mary Stakes, The Duke of Cambridge Stakes and The Queens Vase. Interestingly, the day’s first three races are restricted to fillies and/or mares.

Ladies Day is the title given to the third day of Royal Ascot proceedings. The Group-1 Gold Cup, raced over an extreme two-mile four-furlong trip, is its undoubted highlight. The Group-2 Norfolk Stakes opens proceedings, and another Group-2, The Ribblesdale Stakes, is another prize decided on a day when the fashion stakes reach a fever pitch.

By day four, punters could be pressing up their winnings or chasing losses. Three big-field handicaps will not be easy to unravel in either scenario. However, the Group-1 Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes should provide a more straightforward challenge and favourites have an excellent record in the day’s other major race, the Group-2 King Edward VII Stakes.

Saturday, June 22nd, will be the final day of Royal Ascot 2024. The £1 million Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes is the only Group 1 contest on the day’s seven-race card. Three handicaps make up the final three races of the festival. All will feature big fields. However, the two-mile six-furlong Queen Alexandra Stakes will likely see horses well strung out at the line.

Royal Ascot’s Full 2024 Race Schedule

  • Tuesday June 18th
  • Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) – 2:30pm
  • Coventry Stakes (Group 2) – 3:05pm
  • King Charles III Stakes (Group 1) – 3:45pm
  • St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1) – 4:25pm
  • Ascot Stakes (Handicap) – 5.05pm
  • Wolferton Stakes (Listed) – 5:40pm
  • Copper Horse Stakes (Handicap) – 6:15pm
  • Wednesday June 19th
  • Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2) – 2:30pm
  • The Queen’s Vase (Group 2) – 3:05pm
  • Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2) – 3:45pm
  • Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1) – 4:25pm
  • Royal Hunt Cup (Handicap) – 5.05pm
  • The Kensington Palace Stakes (Handicap) – 5:40pm
  • Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed) – 6:15pm
  • Thursday June 20th
  • Norfolk Stakes (Group 2) – 2:30pm
  • King George V Stakes (Handicap) – 3:05pm
  • Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2) – 3:45pm
  • Gold Cup (Group 1) – 4:25pm
  • Britannia Stakes (Heritage Handicap) – 5.05pm
  • Hampton Court Stakes (Group 3) – 5:40pm
  • Buckingham Palace Stakes (Handicap) – 6:15pm
  • Friday June 21st
  • Albany Stakes (Group 3) – 2:30pm
  • Commonwealth Cup (Group 1) – 3:05pm
  • Coronation Stakes (Group 1) – 3:45pm
  • Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (Handicap) – 4:25pm
  • Sandringham Stakes (Handicap) – 5.05pm
  • King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2) – 5:40pm
  • Palace Of Holyrood House Stakes (Handicap) – 6:15pm
  • Saturday June 22nd
  • Chesham Stakes (Listed) – 2:30pm
  • Hardwicke Stakes (Group 2) – 3:05pm
  • Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Group 1) – 3:45pm
  • Jersey Stakes (Group 3) – 4:25pm
  • Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap) – 5.05pm
  • Golden Gates Stakes (Handicap) – 5:40pm
  • Queen Alexandra Stakes (Conditions) – 6:15pm

How Can I Watch Royal Ascot 2024?

Ascot declared that 300,000 racegoers attended the 2023 Royal Meeting. As the racecourse reported it had sold out some enclosures – and others had only limited tickets remaining – weeks ago, Britain’s most valuable race meeting could better that turnout in 2024.

If not attending the racecourse in person, UK and Irish fans can watch every race of the meeting live on ITV Racing or Sky Sports Racing. Ladbrokes, Betfred and other familiar high-street brands will have live pictures in their betting shops, and the best live streaming betting sites will also show the action as it unfolds.

Interesting Stats to Make Royal Ascot Pay

As a World Pool meeting, Royal Ascot’s Tote pools race-on-race will be massive. Jackpot and Placepot pools will also be brimming full of cash. However, finding six winners on a typical Royal Ascot race day is more than problematic. To help, we have looked at one race each day and used historical data to find a potential edge.

The King Charles III Stakes (Tuesday) has only been won by one favourite in the past ten years. However, six second favourites and a third favourite have also taken this sprint contest, which was formerly known as the King’s Stand Stakes. The average starting price of a race winner is 6/1.

Another five-furlong dash, albeit restricted to two-year-olds, Wednesday’s Queen Mary Stakes has shown a definite bias towards horses drawn in a high stall number. 2023’s winner, Crimson Advocate, was drawn 28 of 28 runners. During the past decade, other winners have come from stall 22 (of 22 runners), 20 (of 22 runners), 20 (of 24) and 25 (of 28).

Eight of the past ten Gold Cup winners started as favourite or second favourite, and nine of the last ten favourites finished in the frame. Four and six-year-olds have the best record in the day three feature by far, and nine of the past 12 winners had raced just once during the season.

Only two French-trained runners are entered in Friday’s Coronation Stakes. If either Christopher Head’s Ramatuelle or Francis Henri Graffard’s Rouhiya take their place in the Group-1 contest, seriously consider them. France has an outstanding record in this contest, winning it three times in the past nine years, with additional runners reaching the frame.

History says only back a British-trained horse from a non-Newmarket stable in the big field Wokingham Stakes on Saturday. Winning form during the current season is unimportant – only two of the last ten winners had it – but avoid any horse with a draw under stall ten, with low numbers having a dire record since the mid-2000s.

One Horse to Back at Royal Ascot

The Gold Cup tops Royal Ascot’s bill and regularly throws up a true champion who wins the race more than once. Stradivarius, Yeats, Royal Rebel and Drum Taps are just four of its repeat winners. This year, Kyprios can etch his name on the Gold Cup trophy for a second time.

Aidan O’Brien’s six-year-old – the perfect age for this race – claimed the title in 2022 but missed last season’s contest owing to an injury. He raced twice later in the year, finishing second on both occasions. However, Kyprios has won 10 of his 14 career starts and looked in fine fettle when winning two lower-grade races this spring.

With defending champion Courage Mon Ami ruled out of this year’s Gold Cup with a setback, we rate Ryan Moore’s mount as Royal Ascot banker material. The UK’s best horse racing betting sites quote the son of Galileo on even-money.

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