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Who Are The Front Runners For Royal Ascot?

| June 4, 2020
Who are the front runners for this year’s Royal Ascot meeting

Royal Ascot is one of the most important events in the British racing calendar. The atmosphere around the race is one of a kind, with the attendance of the British Royal Family and the famous Ladies’ Day, which always adds a level of pomp and glamour to the proceedings.

In this article, we’ll be looking at a brief history of Royal Ascot and some of the front runners for this year’s event.

A Brief History of Royal Ascot

Ascot Racecourse is one of the gems of British horse racing, having been founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, and considered by many to be among horse racing’s most important venues. The Royal Ascot remains the centerpiece of Ascot’s yearly calendar, a tradition that dates back to 1911.

Ascot runs over five days, with the Queen Anne Stakes and the Kings Stand Stakes taking place on the same day. One of the main draws of Royal Ascot is its air of pomp and aristocracy, as the British Royal family regularly attends en masse.

However, Ascot isn’t just about the fascinators and celebrities. There are some excellent horses on display. Former repeat winners like Stradivarius, Yeats, Sagaro, Black Caviar, and Royal Rebel, and jockeys like Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori, have become household names because of their performances at Royal Ascot.

Stradivarius is running in this year’s Gold Cup, looking to pick up that vaunted third win, while exciting new talent Hello Youmzain, who’s now the 6/1 favourite with Betway to win the new Diamond Jubilee Stakes is looking to start building a solid Royal Ascot reputation.

Picking a Winner at Royal Ascot

Picking a winner at Royal Ascot is a challenge for punters across the globe.

With around £8 million in prize money on the table throughout the five-day event, Royal Ascot draws in some of the best performing flat turf riders and horses from across the world. However, as any seasoned punter will tell you, it’s not the name that matters, it’s the form.

The best performers of the British flat turf season are normally the front runners to place during the various stakes of Royal Ascot, but the season has been a little up in the air this year, making it harder to get a proper idea of the current form.

Looking back over horses that have previously performed at Royal Ascot is always a good idea, as is checking who won the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes the year before. The Sagaro Stakes, named after a former Royal Ascot winner, act as a sort of trial phase for the Royal Ascot Gold Cup.

Another good indicator of form is the winners of the 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Traditionally, horses that have performed well in what are considered to be the first two classics of the British flat turf season have gone on to succeed during Royal Ascot.

While Timeform reports that the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas have been delayed this year, according to the Newmarket Journal, they are now provisionally scheduled for the first weekend of June.

Who to Watch Out for at Ascot 2020

Looking back over last term’s form, before the current crop of hiatuses, Pinatubo stands out as one for the front runners at this year’s Royal Ascot. This two-year-old colt has won every one of his six starts last year and has two Group One victories under his belt. He was also one of the favourites to place at the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket before its postponement.

As we mentioned, prior form at Royal Ascot is normally a good indicator of a solid pick, so no list of front runners for this year’s race would be complete without mentioning Stradivarius. This six-year-old has already won the £1 million Stayers’ Bonus twice and could very well be on to make it a triple.

Logician is another horse to watch, having won St Leger at Doncaster, the last British flat turf classic of the season. However, he’s is likely to come up against some firm competition in the form of another Khalid Abdullah-owned contender in the form of the super mare, Enable.

Category: International

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