Royal Ascot Betting Offers & Free Bets – 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st & 22nd June 2024

Get set for a festival of flat racing without equal anywhere in the world as Royal Ascot is here! British racing has many things of which it ought to be proud and chief amongst them are these five days at the Berkshire track. Boasting facilities, racing and prestige of the highest order, this is quite simply the best there is in terms of racing bonanzas.

And as always with these bigger events there are plenty of promotions, free bets and other tasty incentives from the bookies to help with betting. On this page we’ll be showcasing the best offers for each day of the festival, updated regularly as new promos come in.

Existing Customer Free Bets & Money Back Offers

Schedule

Tuesday 18th June 2024

• 2:30pm – Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1)
• 3:05pm – Coventry Stakes (Group 2)
• 3:40pm – King’s Stand Stakes (Group 1)
• 4:20pm – St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)
• 5:00pm – Ascot Stakes
• 5:35pm – Wolferton Stakes (Listed)
• 6:10pm – Copper Horse Handicap

Wednesday 19th June 2024

• 2:30pm – Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2)
• 3:05pm – Kensington Palace Fillies’ Handicap
• 3:40pm – Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2)
• 4:20pm – Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1)
• 5:00pm – Royal Hunt Cup
• 5:35pm – Queen’s Vase (Group 2)
• 6:10pm – Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed)

Thursday 20th June 2024 (Ladies Day)

• 2:30pm – Norfolk Stakes (Group 2)
• 3:05pm – King George V Stakes
• 3:40pm – Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2)
• 4:20pm – Gold Cup (Group 1)
• 5:00pm – Britannia Stakes
• 5:35pm – Hampton Court Stakes (Group 3)
• 6:10pm – Buckingham Palace Stakes

Friday 21st June 2024

• 2:30pm – Albany Stakes (Group 3)
• 3:05pm – Commonwealth Cup (Group 1)
• 3:40pm – Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes
• 4:20pm – Coronation Stakes (Group 1)
• 5:00pm – Sandringham Stakes
• 5:35pm – King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2)
• 6:10pm – Palace Of Holyrood House Stakes

Saturday 22nd June 2024

• 2:30pm – Chesham Stakes (Listed)
• 3:05pm – Jersey Stakes (Group 3)
• 3:40pm – Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Group 1)
• 4:20pm – Hardwicke Stakes (Group 2)
• 5:00pm – Wokingham Stakes
• 5:35pm – Golden Gates Stakes
• 6:10pm – Queen Alexandra Stakes

Please note that the above schedule is subject to confirmation

About Royal Ascot

Ascot Racecourse is in Berkshire, England and plays host to the Royal Meeting every year. It’s one of the most prestigious horse racing events in the world and is so called because of the attendance of the British monarchy.

The first Royal Ascot meeting was held way back in 1711, which is the same year that Queen Anne opened the Ascot Racecourse. Since then it’s gone on to become a hot bed for Royal visitors with Queen Elizabeth II having been a regular visitor in the modern era. Other members of the Royal family such as The Prince of Wales arrive each day in a horse-drawn carriage and a Royal procession takes place before any racing gets underway. This is also when the King’s Royal Standard is raised above the course.

Royal Ascot is one of British racing’s best-attended meetings, thanks to the three hundred thousand plus people that make the trip to Berkshire to see the races. The Festival takes place over five days, usually in June, and throughout those five days attracts the biggest names in flat racing from around the globe. Ladies Day offers the Gold Cup, which is one of few races not to have been renamed in honour of a member of the Royal Family.

In 2012, for example, the Golden Jubilee Stakes became the Diamond Jubilee Stakes after the Queen reached her Diamond Jubilee. This then became the Platinum Jubilee stakes in 2022. After the Queen’s passing in 2022, this race will be known as the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. The Windsor Forest Stakes became the Duke of Cambridge Stakes in 2013 when Prince William was bestowed with his new title. Some Royal races have been removed from the race card over the years, such as the Buckingham Palace Stakes being replaced by the Commonwealth Cup in 2015, though this returned in 2020.

The Royal Ascot Festival is seen as an important date in the social calendar of the country’s rich and famous. The national press covers the likes of who is at the event, what they’re wearing and other such information. It’s even to the extent that it can often be harder to find out information about the racing than what the Princess of Wales was wearing.

The Royal Enclosure

The course boasts three main enclosures that are used by the members of the Royal Family. The most prestigious of Ascot’s three enclosures is unquestionably the Royal Enclosure, which hosted the Queen on numerous occasions. When the monarch is present access is restricted to it, for obvious reasons. Should you wish to attend, you’ll have to apply to the Royal Enclosure Office with your application sponsored by someone that’s been in the Enclosure for at least four previous years.

Those that are successful in their applications are given badges with their names inscribed on them that can only be used by them. There’s a strict dress code in place, with women having to wear day dresses and a hat, whilst men must wear morning suits including a top hat. Women are also not allowed to bare their shoulders or midriff whilst in the enclosure, with men’s suits needing to be either black or grey.

Format of the Royal Meeting at Ascot

As mentioned, Royal Ascot is set over five days and each of those days brings in a mix of races, some higher profile than others. One thing worth noting is that every day of the Festival, which always gets underway on a Tuesday, boasts at least one Group 1 race.

There are seven races each day in with a total of thirty five over the duration of Royal Ascot. It would take too long to give you an in-depth look at every single race, but here’s a quick explanation of each day as well as a closer look at each of the Group 1 races.

Tuesday Races (2023)

Tuesday is the opening day of Royal Ascot which starts with the Queen Anne Stakes, a race for four-year-olds and older over one mile. Four horses have won it twice, with Frankie Dettori being the most successful jockey thanks to his seven wins. Saeed bin Suroor is the race’s most successful trainer, also boasting seven wins to date.

The second race is the six furlong Coventry Stakes which is followed by another sprint race in the King’s Stand Stakes. This is over five furlongs and is for three-year-olds and older. Created as a result of bad weather in 1860, twelve horses have won it twice and the most recent of them was Blue Point in 2018 and 2019. Lester Piggott has won the race more than any other jockey with seven wins, only one of which was trained by the race’s leading trainer Vincent O’Brien, who’s trained five winners in total.

The third Group 1 of the day comes in race four with the St James’s Palace Stakes. This was inaugurated in 1834 and is another race over one mile. It’s specifically for three-year-old colts, meaning no horse can win it more than once. Michael Kinane has won the race six times and leads the jockeys, with Aidan O’Brien being the most successful trainer thanks to his eight wins.

The other races on Day 1 are the Ascot Stakes Handicap, the Listed Wolferton Stakes and finally the Copper Horse Stakes Handicap.

Wednesday Races (2023)

Day two only includes one Group 1 race but this is the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the joint most valuable race of the meeting at £1,000,000. It is run over one mile and two furlongs and is for horses aged four and older. Three horses have won the race twice, whilst Morny Cannon has won more races than any other jockey with six. John Porter, meanwhile, is the race’s most successful trainer thanks to his eight wins between 1888 and 1905.

Leading up to the Prince Of Wales’s Stake there are two Group 2 contests in the form of The 5f Queen Mary Stakes and the 1m Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, as well as the Kensington Palace Stakes Handicap. Also on Day 2 there is the Group 2 Queen’s Vase, the Royal Hunt Cup Heritage Handicap and the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes.

Thursday Races (2023)

Day three, Ladies Day, sees arguably the biggest race of the entire meeting, the Ascot Gold Cup. This Group 1 is one of the longest races, taking place over two miles and four furlongs. It is the only Group 1 race on the Thursday.

The Gold Cup is open to horses aged four and over and is the most prestigious of British racing’s events for ‘stayers’ and is leg one of the Stayers’ Triple Crown. If you’re interested, the Goodwood Cup and the Doncaster Cup are the other two. John Gosden’s Stradivarius won all three races in 2019, no other horse had done so since Double Trigger in 1995. The race was inaugurated in 1807 as a race for horses aged three and up, watched by King George III and Queen Charlotte.

Yeats won the race four times consecutively from 2006 to 2009, making him the most successful horse. Lester Piggott is unquestionably its most successful jockey thanks to his eleven wins, whilst Aidan O’Brien added four other wins to those of Yeats to make him the Gold Cup’s most successful trainer.

Ladies Day opens with the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes over 5f and is followed by the King George V Stakes handicap. Next is the Ribblesdale Stakes over 1m 4f, a race for three-year-old fillies, many of which would have competed in the Epsom Oaks earlier in the month.

After the Gold Cup we end the day with the Britannia Stakes, the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes and the Buckingham Palace Stakes. The final race, the Buckingham Palace Handicap, is a race over seven furlongs. This made a Royal Ascot reappearance from 2020, having been replaced in the schedule by the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup in 2015.

Friday Races (2023)

Friday boasts four Group races, which come in the form of the Commonwealth Cup, the Coronation Stakes, the King Edward VII Stakes and the Albany Stakes. Rounding out the card are three handicaps in the form of the Sandringham Stakes, the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes and the Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes.

The Group 1 Commonwealth Cup was first run in 2015 and is a race for three-year-olds. It is run over six furlongs and at the time of writing no trainer has won it more than once but Frankie Dettori has ridden two winners. The only person to boast more than one victory is the Owner Hamdan Al Maktoum also boasts two victories having won the inaugural race and again in 2018.

The day’s other Group 1 is the Coronation Stakes. This is open to three-year-old fillies and is over seven furlongs and two hundred and sixteen yards. It was established in 1840 and was designed to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838. When grading was introduced in its current form in 1971 the Coronation Stakes was a Group 2 race, becoming Group 1 in 1988. Both Nat Flatman and Morny Cannon have won it five times as jockeys, whilst John Porter is the leading trainer thanks to his six victories.

Saturday Races (2023)

Saturday is the final day of Royal Ascot and it boasts a race card with three group races, a listed race, two handicaps and a class 2 conditions race. The opening race is the Listed Chesham Stakes, which is followed by the Group 3 Jersey Stakes.

The headliner on Saturday comes next in the form of the final Group 1 race of the meeting, the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. This was established in 1868 as the All-Aged Stakes. That name is reflected in the fact that it is open for horses aged four and over, though those aged three are eligible if they were foaled in the Southern Hemisphere. The Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes is raced over six furlongs and was a Group 3 race when groups were introduced in 1971. It shifted to a Group 2 race 1998 and then a Group 1 when it was given the name of the Golden Jubilee in 2002.

In 2005 the race became part of the Global Sprint Challenge and by 2013 was the sixth leg. The most successful horse in the race’s history is the appropriately named Prince Charlie, who won three times in a row from 1872 to 1874. A name that is all too common to fans of Ascot racecourse leads the way for jockeys, with Lester Piggott picking up ten wins during his career. Vincent O’Brien was responsible for five of those as trainer, setting the record.

Race four is the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, the next two races are handicaps in the form of the Wokingham Stakes and the Golden Gates Stakes. The meeting comes to a close with the Class 2 Queen Alexandra Stakes.

Interesting Facts

In 2015 Ryan Moore rode an amazing nine winners at the meeting, surpassing the previous record of eight set by Pat Eddery in 1989 and Lester Piggott in both 1965 and 1975. Even so, the actual record for the most winners in one meeting is actually twelve, set by Fred Archer in 1878. Moore’s record of nine winners is thought of to be the more iconic, due to the fact that it happened in the modern era.

In 2023 the total prize money on offer throughout the meeting exceeded £9.57 million,  topping the previous high of £8.6 million in 2022. No race throughout the five days will command prize money lower than £100,000, with the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes jointly the most valuable at £1,000,000 in 2023.

Royal Ascot Most Valuable Races (2023)

In 2005 the Royal Meeting was held at York for the first and only time in its long history. The racecourse was closed for a period of twenty months due to a £185 million redevelopment, which included the construction of a new grandstand.

The meeting normally sees around three hundred thousand visitors over the five days, which equates to almost 10% of the total national attendance at horse racing throughout the year. Over £350 million is generated on betting via the eleven Group 1 races that are part of the meeting. There are some other interesting facts too, with the following being the best of them:

• Ascot Racecourse is the setting for one of the scenes in the musical My Fair Lady
• That is not the only popular culture reference to the racecourse, however. James Bond watched a horse race featuring the villain of A View To A Kill, Max Zorin, in the 1985 film from the franchise
• The James Bond franchise returned to Royal Ascot in 2012’s Skyfall when the racecourse doubled for Shanghai Pudong International Airport
• In the middle of the racecourse stands the ground of Royal Ascot Cricket Club, which was founded in 1897
• There’s another sports club at Ascot Racecourse with Ascot United Football Club being based in the east of the site