Royal Ascot remains one of the most anticipated race meetings on the UK horse racing calendar. It’s packed with some of the top racehorses in the world competing to win historic and high class races taking place between June 18 and 22. One of the most anticipated is the Ascot Gold Cup which takes place on June 20.
Horse racing fans can’t wait to attend each day of this feast of horse racing. It’s not just your everyday fan but members of the Royal Family too. It’s hoped that King Charles III will be well enough to attend the meeting that his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II so adored.
The Ascot Gold Cup is a race that is run over two-and-a-half miles on the famous Berkshire course. It was first held way back in 1807 with King George III and Queen Charlotte in attendance.
Aiden O’Brien has trained the winner of the Ascot Gold Cup on a record eight occasions. Half of those came thanks to Yeats, the most successful horse in the long history of this race. He won four consecutive Gold Cups between 2006 and 2009.
O’Brien saddles the current 5/4 favourite for the 2024 Ascot Gold Cup, according to the current sportsbook offers here. This runner won the race two years ago but was injured last year and didn’t take part.
Now he’s back fit again and looking to win a second Ascot Gold Cup. He’d won six races in a row before suffering an injury. He returned with a race at the Curragh in July 2023 but could only finish second. That was only over a distance of a mile-and-six furlongs though, plus he’d been off the track for 344 days.
Kyprios returned to Ascot in October of last year and nearly got back in winning ways. He finished second, just a neck behind Trawlerman. Again, it was a much shorter distance than he’s used to (15-and-a-half furlongs) but was 13 lengths clear of the third.
2024 has seen the six-year-old have two races, both in Ireland and each of them being won. It could be 2022 all over again for Kyprios. He’s won the two races that were landed a couple of years ago before winning the Ascot Gold Cup.
After the problems encountered in 2023, Aidan O’Brien is delighted with Kyprios and confident of a second Ascot Gold Cup triumph. Speaking after the win at Leopardstown on May 17, the Irish trainer said: “It is amazing the way he has come back this year.”
If Kyprios does win in June, he’ll be the first six-year-old since the great Stradivarius (three times a winner of this race) in 2020 to win the Ascot Gold Cup
In his absence, last year’s race was won by the John and Thady Gosden trained Courage Mon Ami. It was close though with the winner only three quarters of a length ahead of Coltrane. Now he bids to become the first horse to retain the Ascot Gold Cup since Stradivarius.
That was his fourth run and his win continued his perfect record. He lost it in his next race though only finishing sixth in the Goodwood Cup. 24 days later, Coltrane got his revenge when beating the Ascot Gold Cup winner into second place at York.
That race was three-and-half-furlongs shorter than at Ascot and back over two-and-a-half miles it may well be a different story at Royal Ascot. Now he takes on Kyprios for the first time and it’ll also be his seasonal reappearance and he’s 7/1 to win a second Ascot Gold Cup.
The Gosdens have a strong hand in this race. They are also due to run Gregory who is the 10/1 third favourite. The four-year-old has had one outing this season and finished third in the Yorkshire Cup at York on May 17. That’s three races without a win and he’s never raced over further than 14-and-a-half furlongs. He’s a decent each-way bet though.
Also in the Yorkshire Cup was the Willie Mullins trained Vauban who finished in second place behind Giavellotto. Mullins has had fantastic success over the jumps and winning the Ascot Gold Cup would be the latest triumph after winning the Grand National this year.
Vauban has campaigned over both the flat and hurdles but his longest trip for the six-year-old has been two miles-and-half-a-furlong. He’s also 10/1 to win this race and an each-way bet could pay a small profit.
The showdown between Kyprios and Courage Mon Ami could be one of the highlights of this year’s Royal Ascot. Kypris is following the pattern that saw him win here the race in 2022 and looks the likely winner this year.
