2024 Royal Ascot Gold Cup Tips

Kyprios has been foot perfect so far this season and looks every inch like a Gold Cup contender. Aidan O’Brien’s horse was last seen winning at Leopardstown when beating five other rivals, with a one-length victory being enjoyed on that occasion. Previously to this, there was another facile win at Navan although the horse fell short in both outings last year.

There was a second-placed finish at Ascot in the Long Distance Cup when finishing second behind Trawlerman, while this came after being runner-up in the Irish St Leger when Eldar Eldarov lowered his colours. However, there had previously been six successive wins including the 2022 Royal Ascot Gold Cup and the horse has genuine claims.

Gregory is a four-year-old running for John & Thady Gosden, with the horse last seen finishing third out of six horses in the Yorkshire Cup Stakes. That was over one mile and six furlongs, with the horse now bidding to benefit from a longer trip and there was a win in the Queen’s Vase at the 2022 Royal Ascot meeting.

Vauban is an interesting contender who was second when finishing behind Giavellotto and ahead of Gregory in that race at the Knavesmire, with the horse previously being sent off favourite in the 2023 Melbourne Cup before finishing a somewhat disappointing fourteenth out of twenty-three runners.

2023 Ascot Gold Cup Tips

The bookies have two horses trading at a similarly short price for the Ascot Gold Cup, with Eldar Eldarov and Coltrane given a roughly equal chance of winning. The former was second in the recent Yorkshire Cup Stakes where the horse was able to beat favourite Broome but just edged out by outsider Giavellotto by half a length.

The Roger Varian-trained charge was previously disappointing on British Champions Day when finishing seventh in the Long Distance Cup, with the horse able to previously secure a victory in the St Leger Stakes over one mile, six and a half furlongs. The horse has a strong rating although Coltrane was able to win at Ascot last time out.

The Andrew Balding-trained charge was able to oblige in the Sagaro Stakes over two miles, with the horse winning the race by nearly five lengths. It will be interesting to see whether the runner is able to perform to the same level over a longer trip, with the horse having lost by a head to Trueshan in the Long Distance Cup on British Champions Day at Ascot.

Emily Dickinson is a promising four-year-old although she fell short in an encounter at Leopardstown in May, with the horse surprisingly beaten in the Group 3 Levmoss Stakes. Having won previously at Navan in the Vintage Crop Stakes, perhaps she can bounce back with a victory here and it will be interesting to see how the betting market takes shape.

2022 Ascot Gold Cup Tips

The best horse racing bookmakers are struggling to split the front three in the Ascot Gold Cup betting market. Trueshan has won his past four races and that explains why the six-year-old is a warm order to be in the winners’ enclosure at the Royal Ascot meeting, with Alan King having a hot property on his hands.

King is more commonly associated with training National Hunt winners although he’s got a lively contender and there is plenty to recommend a horse that obliged as the 6/5 favourite in the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes over two miles on 27 July 2021 and hasn’t looked back since that moment.

Then came the Qatar Prix du Cadran at Longchamp where Trueshan was sent off as the 8/5 favourite and jockey James Doyle was able to ride the horse to a victory ahead of Stradivarius. This was a four-and-a-half length success and there was another triumph in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot.

Kyprios is a less experienced runner at the age of four although Aidan O’Brien could have a potential Ascot Gold Cup winner on his hands, with the horse having collected recent wins at Navan and Leopardstown to put him in firm focus for the 2022 Royal Ascot meeting.

The betting odds are based on potential and it’s clear that this is a big step up in class for the Irish raider. However, Stradivarius is at the other end of the spectrum and the John Gosden-trained charge is primed to have a big run based on his effort in the Paddy Power Yorkshire Cup Stakes where he obliged as 6/4 favourite.

2021 Ascot Gold Cup betting odds

When it comes to UK flat horse racing, Stradivarius has taken the scene by storm and the seven-year-old has swept all before him, with John Gosden hoping that the horse can scoop a nearly-unprecedented fourth consecutive victory, with a win matching the achievement of Yeats who won four Gold Cups on the bounce at Royal Ascot between 2006-2009.

Therefore, all eyes will be on this famous horse on 17 June 2021 when the Ascot Gold Cup takes place, with the winner scooping around £200,000 and this is one of the longer races at the five-day meeting, with this stamina-sapping contest lasting a distance of two miles and four furlongs.

Can Stradivarius Land a Big Victory in Ascot Gold Cup?

It’s a virtual certainty that the money will come for Stradivarius ahead of the 2021 Ascot Gold Cup, with this horse getting towards the end of his career although no charge has been able to stop him in this race and it’s clear that trainer Gosden will have targeted another success here.

Most recently, there was a victory in the Longines Sagaro Stakes on 28 April and it ended three horse races without a win, with Stradivarius having flopped in the British Champions Long Distance Cup at the back end of last season and that explains why you can get betting odds as big as 6/4 about the runner.

What was more impressive was his run in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe despite finishing down the order considering how competitive the race was and that was reflected in the betting odds of 54/10 although there was plenty of punters who fancied him that day.

Who Can Beat Stradivarius in 2021 Gold Cup?

Sir Ron Priestley is possibly the pretender to the Royal Ascot Gold Cup crown, with the Mark Johnston-trained charge having looked impressive in recent outings and the five-year-old clearly has more scope for improvement based on his age and the potential to scoop some big prize money.

The big question is what sort of form the horse can produce considering that the runner was absent from the track for nearly 600 days since his last run, with victories at Nottingham and then a big win in the Betfair Exchange Jockey Club Stakes which was a Group 2 event and he has to stand a chance.

Can Stradivarius Emulate Yeats’ Gold Cup Record?

There’s the outside possibility that Stradivarius could potentially land five consecutive Gold Cup victories at the Royal Ascot meeting, especially as the four-year-old managed to score his first win as a four-year-old in 2018. That could set the horse on the road to greatness, with the John Gosden-trained charge obliging in 2019.

While it’s far from certain that we will get a 2020 Royal Ascot at the time of writing, the six-year-old is currently trading as favourite to score a consecutive hat-trick of Gold Cup wins, with the Bjorn Nielsen-owned runner currently trading at a best price 5/2 to get over the line first.

This chestnut horse landed a spate of victories in 2019, with the Goodwood Cup, Yorkshire Cup and Doncaster Cup among his successes and Frankie Dettori will be eyeing more successes when June comes around and the Royal meeting takes place.

Due to the Gold Cup being run over such a long distance, it’s described as a specialist race and perhaps subject to multiple winners scoring successes although Kew Gardens is a horse that looks set to line up and perhaps we’ll see a new champion crowned at the meeting this year.

Aidan O’Brien is the trainer of this five-year-old who actually chinned Stradivarius in October to win the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot and there will be confidence in the ranks that the horse can produce more form although we should note that this contest took place over one mile and seven furlongs.

The History of the Ascot Gold Cup

The Ascot Gold Cup certainly falls into that category, with the race having initially been inaugurated in 1807 and it’s the longest race at the meeting, with the horses having to travel two miles, three furlongs and 210 yards in a battle to secure the spoils.

This is a Group 1 encounter and one of the biggest races on the Royal Ascot racecard, with the purse proving rather substantial considering there’s around £500,000 on the table and more than half of that amount goes to winning connections.

The qualification is that horses must be aged four or older, although it was originally open to three-year-olds, with Master Jackey the first ever winner and the prize money in 1807 was 100 guineas. On that occasion, King George III and Queen Charlotte were in attendance to watch the spectacle.

In 1844, a horse called The Emperor won the first of two Gold Cups and it was a fitting name considering that Nicholas I of Russia was making a state visit to England and was able to see the victory.

The Ascot Gold Cup is a race that forms part of Flat racing’s Stayers’ Triple Crown due to the fact that it’s designed for horses with staying ability rather than flat-out sprinting. The Goodwood Cup and the Doncaster Cup are the other two races that form part of the series, with Double Trigger the latest horse to score three successes in 1995.

Yeats Makes Gold Cup History in the 2000’s

While Stradivarius has been the name on everyone’s lips over the past few years, the most successful horse in this race has been Yeats, with Aidan O’Brien managing to saddle this runner to four consecutive victories in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Yeats triumphed for the first time as a five-year-old and yet he was able to maintain his excellent record all the way through to being an eight-year-old where the horse delighted the crowds while being ridden by Johnny Murtagh. Kieren Fallon actually won on the horse in 2006 before Mick Kinane won in 2007 although Murtagh helped land the latter two successes.

How to Bet on the Ascot Gold Cup

For the 2019 renewal of the Ascot Gold Cup, there were eleven runners and that means that customers could potentially profit either by backing the winner of the encounter or a horse to finish in the places.

If a race has between eight and fifteen runners, then bookmakers will generally offer each-way places down to the first three, with Master of Reality finishing third in the 2019 Gold Cup and the Joseph O’Brien-trained charge was actually priced at odds of 66/1.

Therefore, if you find a bookmaker offering each-way terms of ¼ odds for the first three places, then you would get roughly 16 times your place stake and secure a handsome profit.

Many betting customers simply want to go out in search of backing the winner of this race and the field can usually be narrowed down to a handful of horses. As we’ve explained, this race often lends itself to a multiple winner, although it’s not always the case that the odds are particularly appealing if a runner is priced at odds-on.

An alternative way to bet is by backing the forecast. That means predicting the horse that will finish first and the horse that will finish second. So for example, the 2020 forecast bet could be Stradivarius to finish first and Kew Gardens to finish second.

There’s also the opportunity to bet a Royal Ascot accumulator where you would select the Gold Cup winner and combine this bet with runners for other races from the meeting, with several other Group 1 races taking place over the five days of the Ascot meeting.

There’s nothing quite like the majesty of Royal Ascot and the showpiece race takes place on the third day of the meeting when we see the Gold Cup take place on 20 June 2019.

The Gold Cup is run over a distance of two miles and four furlongs, with this race part of the British Champions Series, with this race among the many Group 1 races that form part of the overall meeting.

Stradivarius could be the horse to beat, with the five-year-old having won the 2018 Gold Cup as the 7/4 joint-favourite, with trainer John Gosden getting his charge ready for another tilt at a race where the winning connections land nearly £300,000.

The horse has been untouchable since that victory twelve months ago, with Andrea Atzeni steering the horse to a triumph in the Qatar Goodwood Cup Stakes, obliging at odds of 4/5.

Stradivarius made his seasonal debut by winning the Yorkshire Cup Stakes and we should also note that the horse won the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot and could be about to achieve legendary status at this meeting.

Gosden helped the horse land a £1 million bonus in 2018 and wasn’t too perturbed by a seemingly lacklustre victory at York, with the trainer admitting that the horse always does enough to win the race.

“He’s a bit of a streetfighter,” the trainer said, “once he gets over being a bit of a stallion when you’re saddling him.
“He was roaring and shouting and slightly misbehaving [before the race] but then he goes out there and races and gets into a different zone. He was certainly in the nightclub when I was saddling him, but fortunately [when he was] on the running track, he was racing.

“He’s obviously the best stayer I’ve ever trained, but he’s not going to go and win by five and show off, that’s not quite his style. Three out, Frankie had to say, let’s get going here, otherwise he’d probably just happily float along with him.
“It’s like all of us, the older we get, the more we need galvanising.”

Dettori will be on board the market leader for this race and the Italian praised his fighting qualities in the latest race.
“He was a bit rusty and it was a bit of a sprint,” Dettori said. “It took me a furlong to get to Ryan but once I got upsides, there was only going to be one winner [because] he’s a fighter. He’s got me out of trouble so many times and he just put his head down and went.”

Cross Counter is trading at 9/2 in the betting, with Charlie Appleby saddling a horse that won the Dubai Gold Cup at the end of March, while it should be remembered that this horse also won the Melbourne Cup last November.

Aidan O’Brien will be typically well represented and we could see Kew Gardens, Flag Of Honour, Southern France and Capri all represent the Coolmore trainer who has an astonishing track record in Flat horse racing.

Kew Gardens looks to be the most exciting of the lot, with the horse having finished a creditable second to Defoe in the recent Coronation Cup and we might expect Ryan Moore to be riding again.

Flag Of Honour has been beaten into second by the same horse on three occasions this season, with the four-year-old touched off by Magical at Naas in April, while the same thing happened at the Curragh twice in May.

With Magical set to run in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, it might open the way for Flag Of Honour to take top spot although it might take something magical to topple the impressive Stradivarius as usual.