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Ascot Course Guide
Famous worldwide for its June meeting, ‘Royal Ascot’ is the most prestigious fixture in the UK Flat racing calendar. The meeting includes 8 Group 1 races, ranging in distance from the five-furlong King’s Stand Stakes to the two and a half mile Gold Cup, which spearhead five days of top-class racing comprising prestigious pattern races and historic handicaps such as the Royal Hunt Cup and Wokingham Stakes. With a Flat calendar that is further-bolstered by the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in late July and British Champions Day in mid-October, no other racecourse stages a comparable level in terms of quality racing.
Ascot’s National Hunt course was inaugurated in 1966 and also stages several important meetings, notably the Ascot Hurdle fixture in November, the Christmas meeting featuring the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle, the two-mile Clarence House Chase (formerly the Victor Chandler) in January and the Ascot Chase fixture in February – the last two meetings featuring several ‘trial’ races for the upcoming Cheltenham Festival.
The round course is a right-handed, triangular circuit of fourteen furlongs, with a run-in of 2½ furlongs. There is a straight mile course and the Old mile course which joins the round course in Swinley Bottom. Despite the downhill run into Swinley Bottom and relatively short run-in from the final turn, Ascot is galloping in character. Since the redevelopment, the turn into the straight has become more sweeping and those ridden prominently can be difficult to peg back. Nowadays, the ground in the straight drains quicker than the rest of the course, meaning going descriptions can vary.
Because the run-in on Ascot’s round course is relatively short, positioning - jockeyship in other words - is key. It goes without saying that in steadily-run races you want to be towards the sharp end but, whatever the pace, you can get into trouble trying to come through rivals late on. We’re still learning about the straight course, following the relaying a few years back, but in my view it’s more pace-dependent than draw-dependent. Given the right pace to chase, I reckon you can win from anywhere.
View from the saddle: Jason Weaver
Right handed, galloping. NH course reopened in 2006/7 after major redevelopment work, and improved drainage means conditions rarely get so testing as they used to. Fences appear as stiff as they've ever been, the course taking plenty of jumping. The chase course often favours those ridden prominently.
The fences on the far side are quite tricky, particularly for a novice, but, if you’re on a horse that can jump them and freewheel nicely on the downhill section, it can usually win for you. Handling those obstacles smoothly saves an awful lot of energy. It’s a front-runners’ track, too, especially in small fields of novices, but it’s very difficult to win from the front in a big-field handicap. Saving ground when you can and making sure you meet the fences right are the two biggest factors to keep in mind when you’re riding Ascot.
View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald
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Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 2m 192y Quite By Chance (Good) 29 Oct 2016 3m 55.4s 2m 2f 175y Master Dee (Good) 29 Oct 2016 4m 29.8s 2m 5f 8y Politologue (Good to Soft) 24 Nov 2018 5m 12.1s 2m 7f 180y Antony (Good) 29 Oct 2016 5m 50.5s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 1m 7f 152y So Celebre (Good) 02 Apr 2017 3m 34.22s 2m 3f 58y Miss Estela (Good) 29 Oct 2016 4m 33.6s 2m 5f 141y Doux Pretender (Good) 24 Nov 2018 5m 12.55s 3m Heronry (Good) 30 Mar 2014 5m 34.2s 3m 1f Reve De Sivola (Good to Soft) 20 Dec 2014 6m 11.35s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 2m Wilberdragon (Good) 01 Nov 2014 3m 34.33s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 5f Lady Aurelia (Good to Firm) 20 Jun 2017 57.45s 6f Blue Point (Good to Firm) 03 May 2017 1m 11.05s 7f Society Power (Good to Firm) 11 May 2018 1m 24.07s 7f 213y Alpha Centauri (Good to Firm) 22 Jun 2018 1m 35.89s 1m 2f The Fugue (Good to Firm) 18 Jun 2014 2m 1.9s 1m 3f 211y Poet's Word (Good to Firm) 28 Jul 2018 2m 25.84s 1m 6f Big Orange (Good) 03 Oct 2014 2m 59.36s 2m Mizzou (Good to Firm) 29 Apr 2015 3m 24.12s 2m 3f 210y Thomas Hobson (Good to Firm) 20 Jun 2017 4m 17.62s 2m 5f 159y Oriental Fox (Good to Firm) 20 Jun 2015 4m 45.67s -
Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L P F Nicholls 57 11 £297,669 19.3% -£10.06 N J Henderson 35 11 £322,317 31.43% £32.32 G L Moore 25 5 £206,139 20% £7.25 Harry Fry 18 3 £78,424 16.67% -£5.50 Robert Walford 6 3 £60,037 50% £35.00 C L Tizzard 32 2 £119,595 6.25% -£21.56 P J Hobbs 25 2 £65,493 8% -£13.00 T R George 17 2 £81,328 11.76% £7.50 Dr R D P Newland 8 2 £112,370 25% £16.50 Ian Williams 6 2 £24,303 33.33% £7.00 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L N J Henderson 65 13 £261,680 20% -£10.53 P F Nicholls 45 7 £95,434 15.56% £5.00 Harry Fry 19 5 £168,618 26.32% £5.00 A King 41 4 £132,048 9.76% -£21.47 N J Gifford 9 3 £26,252 33.33% £20.25 D Pipe 13 2 £11,696 15.38% £6.00 D Skelton 18 2 £92,183 11.11% £1.75 N A Twiston-Davies 18 2 £41,471 11.11% -£9.50 Dr R D P Newland 8 2 £34,650 25% £4.00 P J Hobbs 22 1 £34,170 4.55% -£10.00 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L W Greatrex 6 2 £21,634 33.33% £7.00 P F Nicholls 7 1 £4,549 14.29% -£4.25 P J Hobbs 4 1 £4,549 25% £2.00 Tom Lacey 5 1 £4,549 20% -£2.75 O Sherwood 3 1 £4,549 33.33% -£0.13 Ben Pauling 3 1 £4,549 33.33% £4.00 B G Powell 2 1 £4,549 50% £3.50 M R Channon 1 1 £4,549 100% £5.00 Ian Williams 1 1 £4,549 100% £20.00 N J Gifford 1 1 £17,085 100% £10.00 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L J H M Gosden 175 28 £5,391,541 16% -£34.88 A P O'Brien 155 22 £4,661,292 14.19% -£21.62 C Appleby 104 18 £885,043 17.31% £1.45 Sir Michael Stoute 98 15 £1,925,571 15.31% £7.57 W J Haggas 112 15 £400,370 13.39% -£23.81 R Hannon 187 13 £391,545 6.95% -£109.00 M Johnston 151 13 £447,629 8.61% -£79.63 R Varian 93 11 £269,559 11.83% -£36.14 J A Osborne 38 11 £280,350 28.95% £56.25 C G Cox 78 10 £816,313 12.82% -£0.50 -
Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L Sam Twiston-Davies 23 5 £199,862 21.74% £8.41 Nico de Boinville 13 5 £201,994 38.46% £1.39 J E Moore 19 4 £149,189 21.05% £8.25 T J O'Brien 20 3 £99,663 15% £4.00 D A Jacob 18 3 £69,700 16.67% -£9.45 H Cobden 16 3 £73,172 18.75% £5.75 B J Geraghty 16 3 £95,091 18.75% £13.38 James Best 11 3 £60,037 27.27% £30.00 Jack Sherwood 5 3 £35,739 60% £10.38 N D Fehily 20 2 £132,345 10% -£15.25 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L Nico de Boinville 26 9 £127,636 34.62% £4.18 N D Fehily 26 5 £145,341 19.23% -£0.97 B J Geraghty 22 5 £141,842 22.73% -£8.95 Sam Twiston-Davies 18 5 £82,568 27.78% £9.00 Aidan Coleman 19 4 £101,105 21.05% £18.25 Wayne Hutchinson 23 3 £47,686 13.04% -£5.27 L P Aspell 16 2 £13,256 12.5% £9.00 J E Moore 20 2 £32,822 10% -£4.00 Harry Skelton 9 2 £92,183 22.22% £11.75 Lizzie Kelly 10 2 £13,256 20% -£1.00 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L David Bass 6 1 £4,549 16.67% £1.00 N D Fehily 4 1 £4,549 25% -£1.75 Brendan Powell 5 1 £4,549 20% £0.50 B J Geraghty 2 1 £17,085 50% £9.00 L P Aspell 3 1 £4,549 33.33% -£0.13 G Sheehan 3 1 £17,085 33.33% £6.00 Conor Smith 2 1 £4,549 50% £4.00 T Scudamore 2 1 £17,085 50% £7.00 A P Heskin 2 1 £4,549 50% £19.00 B S Hughes 1 1 £4,549 100% £5.00 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L R L Moore 176 33 £5,107,873 18.75% -£51.10 W Buick 148 27 £1,586,030 18.24% -£3.23 L Dettori 106 23 £4,757,088 21.7% -£9.75 James Doyle 113 16 £2,009,320 14.16% -£35.09 Andrea Atzeni 116 15 £517,365 12.93% -£9.59 A Kirby 133 14 £1,004,107 10.53% -£14.50 J P Spencer 133 13 £418,534 9.77% -£7.43 S De Sousa 142 11 £300,515 7.75% -£67.55 Oisin Murphy 100 8 £918,138 8% -£13.63 M Harley 80 8 £409,361 10% £3.00
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Ascot Racecourse Limited
Ascot
Berkshire
SL5 7JX
0844 346 3000
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