Royal Hunt Cup
17:00 Royal Ascot
2026-06-17
Winner: £90,195
Runners: 28
Going: Good To Firm
Distance: 1m0f0y
The Royal Hunt Cup is a cavalry charge handicap run over a mile. It takes place at 17:00 on Wednesday 17th June, which is the second day of Royal Ascot 2026. View the runners here, and also make sure to check out the odds and tips on offer for this race.
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RACING POST TIP
Royal Ascot Free Bets
No offers to show
Past 10 Winners
| Year | Horse [Draw] | Age | Weight | SP | Trainer | Jockey |
| 2025 | My Cloud [32] | 4 | 9-1 | 3/1F | Roger Varian | Silvestre De Sousa |
| 2024 | Wild Tiger [20] | 5 | 9-0 | 11/2J | Saeed bin Suroor | Oisin Murphy |
| 2023 | Jimi Hendrix [7] | 4 | 9-5 | 22/1 | Ralph Beckett | Rossa Ryan |
| 2022 | Dark Shift [15] | 4 | 9-1 | 13/2 | Charles Hills | James McDonald |
| 2021 | Real World [4] | 4 | 8-6 | 18/1 | Saeed bin Suroor | Marco Ghiani (3) |
| 2020 | Dark Vision [11] | 4 | 9-1 | 15/2 | Mark Johnston | William Buick |
| 2019 | Afaak [21] | 5 | 9-3 | 20/1 | Charles Hills | Jim Crowley |
| 2018 | Settle For Bay [22] | 4 | 9-1 | 16/1 | David Marnane | W J Lee |
| 2017 | Zhui Feng [26] | 4 | 9-0 | 25/1 | Amanda Perrett | Martin Dwyer |
| 2016 | Portage [4] | 4 | 9-5 | 10/1 | M Halford | James Doyle |
Key race stats 2026
Key trends
- Aged four or five, 10/10 (eight aged four)
- Carried between 9st and 9st 5lb, 9/10
- Officially rated between 96 and 103, 8/10
- Won or been placed in a field of at least 13 runners, 8/10
- Top-three finish at least once that season, 9/10
- Ran between one and three times that campaign, 7/10
- Distance winner, 6/10
Other factors
There have been only four winning favourites in the last 35 years –True Panache in 1989, Yeast in 1996, Forgotten Voice in 2009 and Wild Tiger, who was joint favourite last year.
Only three of the last ten winners were drawn in single figures, while 2022 winner Dark Shift and last year’s scorer Wild Tiger were the only ones drawn between stalls 12 and 20.
Four winners wore some form of headgear.
What happened in the Royal Hunt Cup last year?
Favourite backers rejoice as the strongly supported My Cloud proved too good for his rivals in the big mile handicap. Roger Varian’s colt was one of the most fancied handicap runners at the meeting and was sent off a 3-1 shot in the 30-runner field. The market confidence proved well placed as Silvestre de Sousa’s mount kept on best to win by three quarters of a length.