The beginning of the five-day Royal Ascot 2021 starts on Tuesday 15 August in what is one of the biggest events on the British racing calendar each year.
The action begins at 14:30 with the Queen Anne Stakes being the first of seven races on the day. Palace Pier is widely expected to win the opener with odds of 4/9 to ride to victory and has even been tipped by the reliable horse-betting.pro. Order of Australia and Lope Y Fernandez will try to upset the odds, priced at 6/1 and 10/1 as second and third favorites respectively.
The racecourse is located in Berkshire, England and covers 179 acres. Originally founded by Queen Anne in 1711, Queen Elizabeth II usually attends several times per year.
Wednesday
The Queen Mary Stakes is the opening race on day two with no horse being the clear favorite heading into the event. Stonestreet Stables LLC’s Twilight Gleaming is currently the 23/8 favorite, followed by Yet at 7/1 and Illustrating at 10/1.
There are a total of 15 Group races, including at least one Group 1 race on each day of Royal Ascot. This year there will be over £3.5 million in prize money on offer. The standard of the horseracing is among the best worldwide.
Thursday
The most famous event on the middle day of the event is the middle race: The Gold Cup, scheduled to start at 16:05 local time.
Stradivarius will be looking to emulate the famous Yeats by winning the signature event for the fourth time. Frankie Dettori’s horse is currently 10/11 favorite, though was odds against only a couple of weeks ago.
Yeats is the only horse to have won the Gold Cup aged seven or above this century. Not only has Stradivarius won three successive Gold Cup’s heading into this year’s event, but the horse also won at Royal Ascot in 2017, in the Queen’s Vase.
Friday
The penultimate day of Royal Ascot sees The King Edward VII Stakes race at 15:05. Many are expecting a head-to-head battle between Sir Lamorak and Alenquer, whom the bookmakers have priced at 3/1 and 4/1 respectively. However, those odds suggest it could be a very open race.
Also on Friday are The Albany Stakes and The Commonwealth Cup.
Saturday
This year’s event concludes with seven races on Saturday. Starting with the Chesham Stakes at 14:30 and finishing with The Queen Alexandra Stakes to wrap up the week’s action at 18:10.
The highlight of the day will be the 16:30 Diamond Jubilee Stakes where Starman, Dream of Dreams and Nahaarr are all capable of crossing the finish line in first place.