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 crucial 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 deliver 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 just like large U.S. occasions such because the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup World Championships as a result of it’s about way more than simply horse racing. The 5 days are full of 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 12 months 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 demise on Sept. 8, 2022.
Whereas the whole Royal Ascot expertise is a significant attraction for throngs of Brits desirous to get pleasure from a spotlight of the summer time social calendar in individual, for many of us Yanks it’s the horses, TV protection, and betting which are the main focus. Get pleasure from ABR’s information to the 2024 Royal Ascot assembly.
When It Occurs:
The meet runs from Tuesday, June 18 by Saturday, June 22. Seven races are carded every day, and the primary put up 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 score). 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 unparalleled for horses to look in each of them throughout the identical week.
4 races throughout 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 Offered 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 stay 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 Friday, with Nick Luck main the protection.
Your entire Royal Ascot meet can even be televised stay every day on FanDuel TV.
Methods to Guess:
Betting on the ponies within the U.Okay. is completely different than stateside – you set fastened odds with a bookmaker similar to Labrokes or William Hill and go from there. However there’ll be parimutuel swimming pools for U.S. horseplayers by way of advance deposit wagering (ADW) websites similar to NYRA Bets, 1/ST BET, TwinSpires.com, TVG.com, and different entities.
You’ll want to 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.
Prime U.S. Based mostly Horses:
The American coach with the perfect observe file at Royal Ascot with out query is Wesley Ward, who has gained a complete of 12 races at Royal Ascot beginning with two winners in his first journey again in 2009. The Kentucky-based Ward, who gained an Eclipse Award as excellent apprentice jockey in 1984 however transitioned to coaching within the Nineteen Nineties, is famend for creating each 2-year-olds and turf sprinters, and people two teams signify nearly all of his winners on the Royal Ascot.
This 12 months, Ward is sending three 2-year-old fillies and one 2-year-old colt to the Royal Ascot meet as he goals to succeed in the winner’s circle for the primary time since 2021. The coach instructed Byron King of BloodHorse that his filly Ultima Grace, who gained 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 focusing on the Breeders’ Cup qualifier Norfolk Stakes on Thursday, June 20. That daughter of Mendelssohn gained 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 12 months to the Corridor of Fame, tabbed to journey. Burning Pine gained 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 Massive 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 Fortress Stakes going 5 furlongs on Wednesday, June 19.
Final 12 months 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 try for an additional trophy, this time focusing 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 line with Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.
Crimson Advocate earned an automated berth to the 2023 Royal Ascot meet by successful the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes on turf at Gulfstream Park, one among two turf stakes for 2-year-olds on the Hallandale Seaside, Fla., observe held within the spring that provide qualifying invitations to Royal Ascot. This 12 months, one other Gulfstream runner can 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 deliver Gulfstream Park jockey Emisael Jaramillo with him to journey Gabaldon, who’s entered within the Windsor Fortress 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 focusing 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 observe there. He’s in good type this spring, successful 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 Day by day Racing Kind’s Steve Andersen that British jockey James Doyle has the using project on Missed the Lower.
