Ascot Tips

Author: Stuart Riley and Robbie Wilders

Ascot, thanks to the royal meeting and its connection to the royal family, is perhaps Britain’s most famous racecourse.

It was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne and plays host to the world famous five-day Royal Ascot meeting, the Flat season finale British Champions Day as well as an additional 12 Flat meetings and eight jumps meetings.

The track hosts 14 Group 1s on the Flat and three Grade 1s over jumps, making it the world’s leading dual-purpose venue. Here is the Racing Post guide to everything you need to know when betting at Ascot.

Ascot Track Features

Ascot is a right-handed, triangular, galloping track. The lowest point is Swinley Bottom, the point of the triangle away from the home straight and down by where the round mile start is. Consequently these races are entirely uphill.

Most races on the round course tend to put a premium on stamina as the quality of the field tends to mean a good pace, and with the last mile uphill there are few hiding places.

The triangular nature of the track tends to suit those prominently placed as it leaves the others a difficult decision, sit very wide around the short, sharp bends, or filter back to find a spot closer to the rail. Either way they have to cede a lot of ground.

In races over 1m2f there is a strong favouring for horses drawn low due to the very early, and sharp, bend. As with all of these points, in smaller fields this is less of an issue.

The straight mile is also uphill and therefore is generally a greater test of stamina than the bare distance, while it is very easy for them to get racing too early, which can suit closers.

The straight course tends to fall victim to pace biases rather than track biases, though over the five-day royal meeting there have been times when a seemingly clear advantage for one side has been watered away overnight.

Key Ascot tips: Ascot is a stiff course that takes plenty of getting and favouring horses with proven stamina for the distance is the safest bet.

Key races

• Royal Ascot (Eight Group 1s over five days, mid-late June) - The royal meeting starts with three Group 1s on the Tuesday, the Queen Anne, King Charles III and St James’s Palace Stakes, with the Gold Cup deemed the premier race of the five days. Commonwealth Cup, Prince of Wales’s, Coronation and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes are the meetings other Group 1s while the five days also features premier races for two-year-olds and some of the season’s biggest handicaps.

• Champions Day (Five Group 1s in a day, mid October) - Started in 2011, Champions Day features the British Champions Sprint, Long Distance Cup, Fillies’ and Mares’ Queen Elizabeth II and Champion Stakes. It is Britain’s single richest raceday and marks the culmination of the Flat season.

• King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1m3f211y, Group 1, July) - Britain’s joint-richest Flat race, along with the Derby, and has been won by many of the sport’s greats from Shergar to Dancing Brave, Daylami to Enable.

• Grade 1 jumps races (Long Walk Hurdle, Clarence House and Ascot Chase, December to February) Ascot also plays host to some of the season’s biggest jumps races. The Long Walk Hurdle, run on the final Saturday before Christmas, kicks off an epic festive programme for the sport, while the Clarence House and Ascot Chases provide valuable stepping stones to the Champion Chase and Ryanair respectively in the early part of the new year.

Key Ascot tips: Ascot holds several of the best races in the British calendar and sticking with top trainers who excel in Group 1 contests on the Flat can pay.

Ascot Draw Bias (AW Course) // Pace (Flat) BY TIPSTERS / RACEFORM

The draw bias at Ascot is a complicated beast and depends heavily on the course that is in use, the distance of the race, the state of the ground, and other factors of which some are unknown.

On the straight course (5f to 1m), there is often a bias towards high numbers (stands’ side) in large fields. That is particularly true on quick ground and was evident at Royal Ascot this year. Horses drawn in double figures dominated on the straight track, particularly on the first three days of the meeting when the ground was at its freshest. 

In years before pace has proven just as critical and those who were drawn around the best early speed tended to perform well. That was particularly true in 2025, when the first three days of Royal Ascot favoured those drawn high, but on the last two days low numbers fared well. 

On soft ground things can change and the field also tends to split more often, with the potential for pace, and the location of the best speed, to play a more significant role than the draw itself.

On the round course low numbers can hold an advantage at up to 1m4f, where high numbers tend to be preferred. That is particularly true in big-field handicaps over 1m4f as the first bend comes up relatively quickly and horses who are drawn low can get into trouble in running because higher-drawn runners come across and take their ground. The racing can get rough.

Key Ascot tips: It’s not as simple as just saying low or high is better. The reality is that the draw advantage or disadvantage is far more complex than that and rests more on over which distance the race is run, where the best pace is located, and what the ground is riding like. My best advice would be to watch one or two races and gauge it from that, rather than to make any sweeping assumptions based purely on data.

Horse Racing Expert View: How to bet at Ascot 

Few trainers have been as clinical with their Royal Ascot runners as Harry Eustace in recent years and anything the yard runs at the royal meeting demands close inspection.

Eustace, who is an overall 20 per cent at the Berkshire course for a profit of £42.00 to £1 stakes, saddled Docklands to win the Britannia in 2023.

The top-class miler went on to finish first and second in the past two runnings of the Queen Anne and we can bank on him being primed to run another massive race at his favourite venue. 

The trainer also prepared Time For Sandals to perfection to land the Commonwealth Cup against the boys a year ago following La Botte’s desperately unlucky defeat in the Britannia. 

Certain jockeys excel on Ascot’s straight track and the mounts of Jamie Spencer, who often teams up with Eustace, are always worth a look as well. 

Spencer is selective with his rides nowadays and a fantastic judge of pace. Runners often get racing early at the royal meeting and Spencer is a master at producing his horses with a late rattle. 

Backing the top jockey's mounts blind at the Berkshire course over the past five seasons would have earned you an incredible level-stakes profit of £254.08.