Founded by Queen Anne over three centuries ago, Ascot Racecourse has enjoyed Royal patronage ever since and, nowadays, Royal Ascot is a highlight of the British social and sporting calendars. On each of the five days, at two o’clock sharp, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the Royal Procession drive up the Straight Mile in horse-drawn landeau carriages to spend the afternoon in the Royal Enclosure.

The horse racing action is some of the best to be seen anywhere in the world, with a total of eight Group One races on offer, with full supporting cards of lesser, but still highly significant, Pattern races, Listed races and ultra-competitive handicaps. Group One highlights of the week include the Queen Anne Stakes, King’s Stand Stakes and St. James’s Palace Stakes on Tuesday, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday, the Gold Cup – the traditional highlight of the whole week – on Thursday, the Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes on Friday and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday.

Royal Ascot generates in excess of £150 million in betting turnover, but the two major betting heats of the week are two so-called ‘heritage’ handicaps, the Wokingham Stakes and the Royal Hunt Cup. The Wokingham Stakes, run over 6 furlongs on the fifth, and final, day of Royal Ascot – which replaced the traditional Heath meeting in 2002 – is invariably contested by a maximum field of thirty runners and has thrown up winners at 33/1 (twice) and 25/1 in the last ten renewals.

Earlier in the week, the Royal Hunt Cup is, like the Wokingham Stakes, open to three-year-olds and upwards and worth £175,000 in prize money, but is contested over the Straight Mile. Once again, a maximum, or near-maximum, field of thirty runners ensures that the stalls are spread right across the width of the course, making life difficult for punters. Indeed, the Royal Hunt Cup has thrown up its fair share of surprises in recent years, with winners at 33/1, 28/1, 25/1, 20/1 and 16/1 (twice) in the last ten renewals, with just one winning favourite in that period.

Royal Ascot, for most the highlight of the racing year. If going to the races wasn’t enough, at Royal Ascot you get to dawn the top hat and tails, and become part of what Royal Ascot is.

Away from the top hat and tails, is Royal Ascot the meeting point for all the top equine flat horses that the world has to offer, from Ireland to American and everything in between you is sure to find the best that horses that the world has to offer.

 

Royal Ascot Highlights

Queen Anne Stakes (1 mile) – Group 1

The Queen Anne Stakes is the first of eight Group One race of the week. Traditionally the Royal Ascot curtain raiser is one of the best races of the week with top class and well established 1 milers coming head to head at the grandest stage of them all.

The Gold Cup – (2 miles 4 furlongs) – Group 1

The Ascot Gold Cup is the ultimate test for any staying horse on the flat. You might have a top class horse over 1 mile 6 furlongs but can he handle the step up to 2 miles 4 furlongs. You need a horse with talent, class, staying power, but most import they need to have bottle and the will to win. Your horse wins the Gold Cup, you will forever be known as…The Gold Cup winner.

In 2018 we saw Stradivarius take this in his quest to become the first ever Triple Crown winner, which he duly went on to achieve.

The Prince Of Wales (1 mile) – Group 1

The Prince of Wales over 1 mile where you might find last season Derby winner take his chance along with placed horses in that race. They will have to be on top of their game to cope with some high class and experience rivals. Last year we saw Poets Word turn over in some people’s eyes the banker of the week in Cracksman.

Will we see another shock this year?

The King Stand (5 furlongs) – Group 1

The King Stand is our first chance to witness all the top sprinters in the world go flat out from the drop of the flag to the finishing line. The race is open to 3 years old and up. So, this is a chance for us to see if the good 2-year-old sprinters of last season have trained on and how they will fare against the big boys of sprinting.

The Diamond Jubilee (6 furlongs) – Group 1

Run over 6 furlongs, the Diamond Jubilee stakes bring some of the best established 6-furlong specialists from 3 years old and up. Each year you can expect to see some of you old favourites go head to head and some of the new kids on the block trying to make a name for themselves. Some of the winners are household names like Starsbangledbanner, The Tin Man, Australian wonder mare Black Caviar and old favourite Kingsgate Native.

Conclusion

Royal Ascot is everything you expect from a social; and betting side of things. At Betopin we have upped our game when it comes to horse racing betting when acquiring the expert services of YouTubes “The Finishing Line”. With both Betopin and The Finishing Line working close together you can be sure that every tip you read is of the highest standard.

Amazing high definition footage taken at Lambourn Training Grounds.

Good Friday is, of course, the Friday before Easter Sunday, the date of which is determined by mathematical calculations based on the lunar calendar – or, in other words, the phases of the Moon – and can fall on any one of thirty-five dates between March 22 and April 25. By contrast, the feast day of St. Stephen, known as St. Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day, always falls on single, fixed date, namely December 26. Consequently, Good Friday and Boxing Day could never coincide, so the answer to the headline question is “Never!” I hear you cry.

And, of course, you would be absolutely correct if the question was purely about chronology, but it’s not; it is, in fact, something of an ‘old chestnut’ in horse racing circles, but that hasn’t stopped it becoming a favourite of quiz masters over the years. For the record, the horse Good Friday ran, and fell, in the Thorneycroft Chase at Wolverhampton – Dunstall Park staged National Hunt racing until 2002, believe it or not – on December 26, 1899; Good Friday did, literally, fall on Boxing Day that year. Click through for more fun and factual horse racing answers.