A Guide to Ascot Racecourse – History, Events and More

This is our comprehensive guide to Ascot Racecourse, home to Royal Ascot, arguably the finest flat racing meeting in the world. The Royal meeting features eight Group 1 races over the course of five days of top class action. It is set against the backdrop of all the pageantry of the Royal Procession and is also one of the fashion highlights of the British sporting summer.

Besides the Royal meeting, Ascot is also home to the prestigious King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, won by many of Europe’s top middle-distance horses. British Champions Day in October is the Autumn highlight featuring the Champion Stakes, won by many great names of the turf including Brigadier Gerard and Frankel.

Ascot racecourse also stages top class National Hunt meetings during the winter months. There are three Grade 1 races; Clarence House Chase, Ascot Chase and Long Walk Hurdle. Our comprehensive Ascot guide covers everything from the rich history of the course, the most important Ascot races and the great racehorses to have graced the Ascot turf.

General Information About the Ascot Racecourse

Ascot Racecourse is approximately 6 miles from Windsor Castle in Berkshire. The track is run by Ascot Racecourse Limited which was founded in 2001 and is classified as the operator of sports facilities. The site of Ascot race track is leased from the Crown Estate by the company who owns Ascot Racecourse.

The Ascot Racecourse capacity is 70,000 racegoers and the course is easily accessed via road while the railway station is only a seven-minute walk away. The Royal meeting is the most popular race meeting in Britain, attracting 300,000 racegoers across the five days.

Ascot hospitality offers a huge range of wining and dining experiences right through to private box hire. Royal Ascot tickets can be booked direct through the website. There are a wide range of beautiful restaurants to choose from and guests can tailor their experience to suit their taste and budget.

These include the Restaurant in the Village which offers a celebratory experience with great views of the action as the horses race into the home straight. There are a select number of private boxes within the Grandstand that can be reserved at Royal Ascot racecourse. These are catered to the highest standards and range from a capacity of 10 to 108 people.

The Ascot racecourse layout is a right-handed galloping track of a mile and three-quarters with a one-mile straight course. Ascot is widely regarded as one of the fairest racecourses in the country. The uphill finish can put the emphasis on stamina and there is no discernible draw bias.

History of the Ascot Racecourse

Ascot was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne who is honoured by the prestigious Group 1 race at Royal Ascot which opens the meeting. The Ascot Gold Cup was first run in 1807 with Master Jackey claiming the prize of 100 guineas. It is Ascot’s longest surviving race and the most prestigious staying race in Europe.

National Hunt racing was not introduced at Ascot until 1965 but it soon became established as a leading venue for top quality jump racing. Ascot racecourse underwent a record £220 million redevelopment in 2004 and the 2005 Royal meeting was staged to York. The new Ascot Grandstand was opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 20th June 2006.

Ascot race track has been graced by many legends of the turf, both on the flat and over jumps. Frankel won five times at Ascot including two of his most memorable victories during his 14-race unbeaten career. Many experts believe that his eleven lengths win in the Queen Anne Stakes in 2012 was his finest performance. It earned him an all-time record rating of 147 from Timeform. He retired to stud following his win in the Champion Stakes later that season.

Other great memories from Ascot include the famous 1975 duel between Grundy and Bustino, dubbed the race of the century. Famous jumpers to win at Ascot include Arkle, Mill House, Desert Orchid and Flyingbolt. Ascot races hit the headlines on 23rd September 1996 when Frankie Dettori rode all seven winners at accumulated odds of over 25,000-1!

Ascot Racecourse Events

Ascot Racecourse is famous for Royal Ascot in June, a five-day festival of the finest flat racing in Europe. Ascot stands for quality with eight Group 1’s at the Royal meeting, 13 in total throughout the flat season and three Grade 1 races over jumps. The most coveted prizes at Ascot include the Gold Cup, Queen Anne Stakes, Diamond Jubilee Stakes, Champion Stakes and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Ascot is also a leading venue for National Hunt racing. The course stages three Grade 1 races; The Clarence House Chase, the Ascot Chase and the Long Walk Hurdle. Ascot currently stages 18 days of flat racing and 8 days of National Hunt racing each year.

Royal Ascot races in June is the highlight of the Ascot horse racing year. There are nineteen Group races and over £7 million in prize money on offer during the five-day festival which is high on Britain’s summer social calendar.

The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes in July and Champions Day in October are important flat meetings. The King George is one of the most prestigious middle-distance races in Europe with prize money reaching £1.25 million in 2018. The Champion Stakes was moved from Newmarket in 2011 and is now the feature race on Champions Day in mid-October.

Ascot also stages the Shergar Cup in August, a challenge event between teams of jockeys. The Girls team secured a famous victory in 2015 and have gone on to win the event in 2018 and 2021. The Shergar Cup is named after the 1981 Derby winner who also won the King George at Ascot that season.

Ladies Day Ascot

Ladies Day at Royal Ascot is day 3 of the 5-day meeting, traditionally Gold Cup day on Thursday. There was no official dress code implemented at Royal Ascot until 1807. The term “Ladies Day” was coined by an anonymous poet back in 1823. Contrary to at other racecourses, Ascot does not hold any competitions specific to Ladies Day but it is the highlight of the week in the Fashion Stakes and one of the most popular events at Ascot racecourse.

The Ascot Gold Cup remains one of the most eagerly awaited Ascot events of the week. The supporting card features the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes which is restricted to three-year-old fillies and sometimes referred to as the Ascot Oaks. The card opens with the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes for two-year-olds which is followed by the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes.

The Gold Cup

The Ascot Gold Cup was first run in 1807 and is Ascot’s longest surviving race. The two and a half mile event may be out of fashion with the breeding industry, but it remains one of the most popular events at Ascot racecourse with the racing public.

John Gosden’s Stradivarius completed a hat-trick of victories in this race in 2019. He became only the third horse in history to win three Ascot Gold Cups after Sagaro (1975-1977) and Aidan O’Brien’s record four-time winner Yeats (2006-2009).

Stradivarius had a large public following and was unlucky to finish second when attempting to equal the record of Yeats in 2020. His sporting owners kept him in training as an eight-year-old in 2022 and he ran a gallant race to finish a close third in his fifth and final Gold Cup.

Another memorable Ascot Gold Cup was in 2013 when Her Majesty The Queen’s Estimate won the race. The mare was the first horse owned by a reigning monarch to win the big race.

Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot is one of the finest horse racing festivals in the world and features nineteen Group races. Eight of them are Group 1’s with three of them on the opening day; Queen Anne Stakes, King’s Stand Stakes and St James’s Palace Stakes.

The highlight of day 2 is the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes while the focus is on the stayers on day 3 for the Ascot Gold Cup. Group 1 action on day five features the Commonwealth Cup and the Coronation Stakes before Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes rounds off the top class action.

Besides attracting many of Europe’s top thoroughbreds, the Royal Ascot races have increasingly welcomed challengers from around the globe including America, Japan and Hong Kong. Royal Ascot racecourse facilities, as you would expect, are second to none. Royal Ascot horse racing begins with the Royal Procession and the action is beamed live to over 200 countries with a worldwide TV audience of around 650 million.

British Champions Day

Champions Day takes place in mid-October and is the most valuable day’s racing in the British racing year. It is the culmination of the British Champions Series and carries over £4 million in prize money over the six races.

The Champion Stakes was transferred from Newmarket to Ascot in 2011 to become the feature race of a top quality card. The prize money for the Champion Stakes was increased to £1.3 million, making it Britain’s richest horse race in 2011. The 2012 victory of Frankel was watched by a record crowd for a UK autumn flat race meeting of 32,000 spectators.

The full Champions Day races are; The Group 2 Long Distance Cup opens the meeting followed by the British Champions Sprint, the first of four consecutive Group 1 races. The British Champion Fillies & Mares Stakes and the one-mile Queen Elizabeth II Stakes precede the ten-furlong Champion Stakes. The meeting concludes with the valuable Balmoral Handicap over a mile.

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes was first run in 1955 and is one of the most prestigious mile races in Europe. Like the Champion Stakes, it received a huge boost in prize money to £1 million in 2011 to become the main supporting race on the newly formed British Champions Day.

There have only been two dual winners; Brigadier Gerard (1971 and 1972) and Rose Bowl (1975 and 1976). Dubai Millennium was another memorable winner in 1999, drawing clear to win by six lengths. He was hailed as the best horse that Sheikh Mohammed had ever produced from his Godolphin operation and duly landed the Dubai World Cup in 2000.

More recent top class winners of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes include Minding (2016), Roaring Lion (2018) and Baaeed (2021). Baaeed defeated Champion Miler Palace Pier and extended his unbeaten career record to six. He would extend this to ten races and six consecutive Group 1 victories in 2022, losing his unbeaten tag on his final start at the corresponding meeting in the Champion Stakes.

Champion Stakes

The British Champion Stakes is the richest ten-furlong race in Europe and was originally run at Newmarket in 1877. Notable past winners include Pebbles (1985), Triptych (1986, 1987), Cirrus des Aigles (2011) and Frankel (2012).

Triptych is one of numerous dual winners of the race, the most recent being Twice Over (2009 and 2010) and Cracksman (2017 and 2018). There has only ever been one three-time winner and that was Tristan way back in 1882 to 1884.

The race was the focus of the racing world in 2012 when Frankel made his final racecourse appearance, defeating the previous winner Cirrus des Aigles before retiring to stud. It was an emotional success for his trainer, the late Sir Henry Cecil, as the horse ended his 14-race career unbeaten. Two years’ later, Frankel’s full-brother Noble Mission won the Champion Stakes, trained by Cecil’s widow Jane.

Shergar Cup

The Shergar Cup is an annual event in August between teams of top International jockeys. The event was first staged at Goodwood in 1999 before moving to Ascot the following year. Originally restricted to two teams, it was expanded to four in 2006. The four teams are Great Britain and Ireland, Europe, Rest of The World and the Girls. Points are scored through finishing order over a series of six handicap races ranging from five furlongs to two miles.

The Girls team scored a famous victory in 2015 and repeated the performance in 2018. They added a third victory in 2021 before Great Britain and Ireland triumphed in 2022. As well as the team prize, there is also an individual prize called the Silver Saddle which is awarded to the jockey who scores the most points. Three riders have won it twice; Richard Hughes (2002 and 2009), Fran Berry (2010 and 2017) and Hayley Turner (2018 and 2019).

The Queen at Royal Ascot

Her Majesty The Queen had an interest in horses from an early age and attended Royal Ascot annually. Each day’s racing would begin with the traditional Royal Procession with The Queen and other members of the Royal family arriving in horse-drawn carriages.

Her Majesty was dedicated to maintaining the strong Royal ties with Ascot, particularly at the big summer meeting which has been officially Royal Ascot since 1911. She was a very knowledgeable owner and breeder. She had her first Royal Ascot winner with Choir Boy in 1953 and sixty years’ later she fulfilled a lifelong ambition by winning the Ascot Gold Cup with Estimate.

King Charles has taken over the famous Royal colours and his late mother’s horses now race in his name. He had his first winner with Just Fine at Leicester in October. Charles and Camilla led the Royal Procession in 2022 and are expected to maintain the tradition in future years.

Famous Ascot Jockeys

Lester Piggott rode a staggering 116 Royal Ascot winners including eleven Gold Cups, three of them aboard Sagaro (1975-1977). However, it is Frankie Dettori who will forever be associated with Ascot for his “Magnificent Seven” on 23rd September 1996.

The popular Italian won on all seven mounts that day; Wall Street (2-1), Diffident (12-1), Mark Of Esteem (100-30), Decorated Hero (7-1), Fatefully (7-4), Lochangel (5-4) and Fujiyama Crest (2-1) at the accumulated odds of 25,051-1. The day is estimated to have cost bookmakers around £30 million.

Ryan Moore also has a fine record at Ascot and became the first post-war jockey to ride nine winners at the Royal meeting in 2015. Harry Cobden and Nico de Boinville are both regularly among the winners at Ascot over jumps. They ride for the powerful stables of Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson respectively.

Ascot dress code – The Royal Ascot Hats and More

The dress code for Royal Ascot varies for each enclosure. It is not all about big hats and colourful ties but, if you are in any doubt, it is well worth consulting the racecourse website. For example, gentleman attending the Royal Enclosure should wear grey, black or navy morning dress. This must include a waistcoat and tie and a black or grey top hat.

Ladies are required to wear formal daywear and dresses and skirts must be of modest length, falling just above the knee or longer. Hats should be worn, although a headpiece with a base of at least 4 inches is acceptable.

There are similar requirements for the Queen Anne Enclosure but the dress code is slightly less formal for the Village Enclosure. However, midriffs must still be covered by the ladies and shorts are not acceptable. Jeans and training shoes are also not permitted in this enclosure. Full details of the Royal Ascot dress code are available on the racecourse website.

There is a dress code in place for other big meetings including the King George and the Champions Stakes. This also varies for each enclosure and takes account of the seasons. There is no formal dress code for National Hunt meetings at Ascot, although racegoers are encouraged to dress in a smart yet appropriate manner for the weather conditions.

Staying at the Ascot Racecourse and How to Get There

Ascot Racecourse is approximately 6 miles from Windsor Castle in Berkshire and attracts around 600,000 racegoers each year. Motorists should leave the M4 at Junction 6 onto the A332 Windsor by-pass and follow signs to Ascot. South West Trains operate a frequent service from Reading, Guildford and Waterloo Station. The railway station is only a 7-minute walk from the racecourse via a spacious pedestrian pathway.

Pre-booking is essential for Royal Ascot Hotels as they are inevitably fully booked for the big summer festival. The Ascot website has five recommended hotels for Royal Ascot week, three of them within a mile and a half of Ascot racecourse.

The French Chateau style Berystede Hotel and Spa is 1.5 miles away and it is just over a mile to the Royal Berkshire which has a wonderful restaurant and leisure club. The family run Lyndricks House provides bed and breakfast less than a mile from the racecourse.

If you are willing to take a short drive, Sunningdale Park is part of the De-Vere group and sits in 65 acres of glorious Berkshire countryside. The luxurious Coworth Park Hotel also has a Spa and on-site restaurant.

FAQs

How strict is Ascot dress code?

The dress code should be adhered to at Ascot which is enforced at the Royal meeting where there are separate codes for each enclosure. The Ascot website publishes a comprehensive style guide for the Royal meeting each year. This details the dress code for each enclosure and can be downloaded for free.

What’s the best place to sleep in nearby?

Ascot racecourse recommends five venues nearby; Berystede Hotel, The Royal Berkshire, Lyndricks House, Sunningdale Park and Coworth Park Hotel. These cover a wide range of budgets but there also plenty of holiday lettings and accommodation in the area. It would be wise to confirm your booking well in advance for Royal Ascot week.

Is Ascot and Royal Ascot the same?

Both refer to Ascot racecourse but Royal Ascot refers exclusively to the five-day summer festival meeting in June. Ascot stages top quality flat and national hunt racing throughout the year. The other featured Ascot flat meetings are the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes weekend in July and British Champions Day in October.

Can guys go to Ladies Day at Ascot?

Yes, of course. Ladies Day is Ascot Gold Cup day and is the highlight of the fashion week. Gentleman attending the main enclosures are required to wear a full-length suit in either black, grey or navy. A collared shirt and tie must be worn at all times

Can anyone go to Royal Ascot?

Yes. All are welcome at Royal Ascot. Children under 10 are not permitted in the Royal Enclosure and all under 18 must be accompanied by a paying adult. The Royal Enclosure is reserved for members or by invitation only but tickets can be purchased in advance for all other enclosures.