Ascot Gold Cup Race Guide

The Ascot Gold Cup is England’s biggest Group One race outside the Classics. The race is the highlight of Ladies Day at the Royal Ascot meeting, traditionally the most popular and well-attended day of flat racing’s most prestigious meeting.

The Ascot Gold Cup is open only to four-year old and older thoroughbreds. The race distance is significantly longer than other top Group One races, at 2 miles 4 furlongs, giving it a unique character whilst demanding tremendous speed and stamina from runners.

Although easily the most important race run during the Royal Ascot meeting, the Ascot Gold Cup is not the oldest race contested at the meeting. The first Ascot Gold Cup was run in 1807, almost 100 years after racing started at Ascot.

Ascot Gold Cup Betting

The Ascot Gold Cup boasts some impressive figures when it comes to pool betting. Boosted by a live international television audience and tens of thousands of live spectators, Ascot Gold Cup betting pools usually run into millions of pounds.

A handful of online sportsbooks, including totesport, allows punters to take advantage of the excellent pool betting opportunities offered by the Ascot Gold Cup.

Ascot Gold Cup betting opportunities are not, however, limited to pool betting. The majority of sportsbooks provide ante-post odds betting opportunities well in advance of the race, and punters can benefit from some really generous odds in this handicap race.

Ascot Gold Cup Winners

The Ascot Gold Cup is one of only a few Group One races run in England which champion racehorses can contest more than once in their careers. This not only contributes to the race’s unique character, but also affords top thoroughbreds the opportunity to build celebrity reputations for themselves in the event.

Very few Ascot Gold Cup winners have managed to capture the title more than once. The most famous amongst those to have achieved this feat is Sagaro, who holds the distinction of being the only thoroughbred racehorse to have won the Ascot Gold Cup on three occasions.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor is the undisputed master of the Ascot Gold Cup. The trainer from the United Arab Emirates has won the race on four occasions, capturing the Ascot Gold Cup winner’s title for the first time in 1996.