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Notable entries for the Group 1s at Royal Ascot

admin June 2, 2026

Royal Ascot is the pinnacle of the Flat season, and this year’s renewal is shaping up to be one of the most compelling in recent memory. With high-class performers from Europe, Australia and beyond targeting the prestigious Group 1s, punters looking for a horse racing bet will have plenty to weigh up across the five days at Berkshire. Here is a look at some of the most notable entries for the week’s top prizes.

Bow Echo: St James’ Palace Stakes

The excitement around Bow Echo following his impressive 2000 Guineas victory has been palpable, and connections are set to keep him at a mile with a tilt at the St James’ Palace Stakes on day one. Trained by George Boughey and ridden by the brilliant young talent Billy Loughnane, the partnership has captured plenty of attention this season, and a Royal Ascot victory would represent another landmark moment for both trainer and jockey. He arrives at the meeting as the one to beat.

Daryz: Prince of Wales’s Stakes

The French raider Daryz offers a fascinating storyline heading into the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. He disappointed in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York last year, but an encouraging return to form on home soil tells a very different story. Back at his best, he beat Minnie Hawk in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before producing another eye-catching effort in the Prix Ganay. If that form translates to Ascot, he could prove a thorny opponent for the home contingent.

True Love: Coronation Stakes

Aidan O’Brien’s True Love was breathtaking in the 1000 Guineas, landing her trainer a first win in the Classic since 2021. The natural next step could be the Coronation Stakes, where she would face her own sex again over the same mile trip. O’Brien rarely travels to Ascot without plenty of firepower, and stablemates Precise and Diamond Necklace are also in contention for the race, meaning Ballydoyle could dominate the market. It shapes up as a potentially fascinating renewal with strong Irish representation at the top end.

Joliestar: Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes

Australian raiders have a proud history at the Royal meeting, and Joliestar looks set to continue that tradition in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. The Chris Waller-trained mare has been in scintillating form at Randwick this season, winning three races in succession, including back-to-back Group 1s.

She heads the market for the six-furlong showpiece, and if you are shopping around for Ascot odds on one of the most intriguing cross-hemisphere matchups of the week, her price could be well worth monitoring as the meeting approaches. The anticipation around her arrival adds real star quality to the sprint division.

Scandinavia: Ascot Gold Cup

The staying division has a fascinating dynamic this year, with St Leger winner Scandinavia set to challenge reigning champion Trawlerman in the Ascot Gold Cup. O’Brien’s stayer is the favourite heading into the two-and-a-half-mile feature, and his seasonal reappearance at Navan in the Listed Vintage Crop Stakes was encouraging: he won comfortably enough and gave the impression he would come on for the run. Trawlerman will not surrender his crown without a fight, but Scandinavia’s classic form and improving profile make this a Gold Cup with genuine intrigue at the head of the market.

Royal Ascot 2025 has all the ingredients for a memorable week, and the Group 1 programme looks particularly strong across all five days.

Ryan Moore

admin May 29, 2026

Born in Brighton, East Sussex on September 18, 1983, Ryan Moore is the eldest son of trainer Gary Moore who, since 2024 has held a joint-licence with his youngest son, Josh, at Cisswood Racing Stables in Lower Beeding, West Sussex. He rode his first winner, of any description, Mersey Beat, trained by his father, in an amateur riders’ handicap hurdle at Towcester on May 15, 2000 and his first Flat winner, No Extras, in an amateur riders’ handicap at Newmarket on June 3, 2000.

Moore subsequently became apprenticed to Richard Hannon Snr., in East Everleigh, Wiltshire and, in 2003, became champion apprentice, riding out his claim on his way to a career-best 59 winners. He rode over 100 winners in Britain for the first time in 2004 and went on to repeat the feat in 13 of the next 14 seasons, peaking with 194 winners, from 899 rides at a strike rate of 22%, in 2013.

Moore became champion jockey for the first time in 2006, with 180 winners, including his first Group 1 winner, Notnowcato, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on August 22, 2006. He may well have defended his title in 2007, but for three months on the sidelines with a broken arm. Nevertheless, he chalked up four more Group 1 wins, including an enterprising, solo effort on the stands’ side on Notnowcato in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, and eventually finished third in the jockeys’ championship behind joint-winners Seb Sanders and Jamie Spencer. As stable jockey to Stoute, Moore was champion jockey again in both 2008 and 2009 and, in 2010, completed the Oaks/Derby double on Snow Fairy, trained by Ed Dunlop, and Workforce, trained by Stoute.

Nowadays first choice jockey for Aidan O’Brien in Ballydoyle, County Tipperary, Moore reached the landmark of 2,000 winners in Britain on Billesdon Brook, trained by Richard Hannon Jnr., in a fillies’ novice stakes race at Kempton on July 5, 2017. At the time of writing, he has 18 British Classic winners to his name, the most recent of which was Minnie Hauk, trained by O’Brien, in the Oaks in 2025.

Tom Marquand

admin May 29, 2026

Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on March 30, 1998, Tom Marquand took the advice of his father-in-law-to-be, Mark Doyle, to become apprenticed to Richard Hannon, rather than Andrew Balding, after leaving school at the age of 16. He rode his first winner, Mecado, trained by Hannon, in a selling stakes race at Kempton on December 17, 2014. Less than a year later, on October 17, 2015, he was crowned champion apprentice, beating his nearest rival, Jack Garrity, 54-52 after riding a winner at Catterick on the final day of the championship season.

Marquand rode 67 winners in 2015 and rode out his claim on Scarlet Dragon, trained by Eve Johnson Houghton, in a handicap at Newbury on June 30, 2016, on his way to 63 winners in his second full season. As a fully-fledged professional, he has been a fixture in the top five of the British Flat Jockeys’ Championship since 2019, finishing fourth that year, third in 2020, third again in 2021, joint-second in 2022, alongside his wife, Hollie Doyle, daughter of Mark, fourth in 2023, third again in 2024 and joint-fourth, alongside Cieren Fallon, in 2025.

Marquand rode his first Group 1 winner, Addeybb, trained by William Haggas, in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill in New South Wales, Australia, on March 21, 2020. He has since added 18 more Grade 1 and Group 1 victories to his career tally, notably including Galileo Chrome, trained by Joseph O’Brien, and Scandinavia, trained by Aidan O’Brien, in the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster in 2020 and 2025, respectively, and Big Evs, trained by Michael Appleby, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in 2023, to name but three. On September 4, 2023, Marquand reached the landmark of 1,000 career winners in Britain on Five Towns, trained by William Haggas, in a fillies’ handicap at Windsor.

Tony McCoy

admin May 29, 2026

To anyone with even a passing interest in horse racing, Tony McCoy, or Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, to give him his full title, surely requires little or no introduction. McCoy retired on April 25, 2015, having ridden 4,348 National Hunt winners in Britain and Ireland, making him far and away the most prolific jump jockey in history. Indeed, his nearest rival in the all-time list, Richard Johnson, rode 3,819 winners, but did not retire until April 3, 2021.

Born in Moneyglass, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on May 4, 74, McCoy rode his first winner on British soil, Chickabiddy, trained by Gordon Edwards, in a handicap hurdle at Exeter on November 1, 1994. He became champion conditional jockey in 1994/95 with a record 74 winners and champion jockey in his first season as a fully-fledged professional, 1995/96, with 175 winners. McCoy would, in fact, defend his title every year until his retirement, an unbroken stretch of 20 years. Indeed, in 2001/02, en route to his seventh championship, he rode 289 winners, breaking the long-standing record for winners in a single season, under either code, 269, set by Sir Gordon Richards in 1947.

In 1997, McCoy was recruited as stable jockey to eventual 15-time champion trainer Martin Pipe at Pond House Stables in Nicholashayne, Devon as a replacement for the previous incumbent, David Bridgwater who, to the suprise of many, walked away from the job at the start of the 1996/97 season. Over the next seven years, Pipe and McCoy formed a formidable partnership that yielded 1,154 winners and made them perennial champions until 2004, when McCoy was offered a lucrative retainer by John ‘J.P.’ McManus.

At the Cheltenham Festival, McCoy rode a total of 31 winners, winning the Champion Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase three times apiece, the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice and the Queen Mother Champion Chase once. He also famously won the Grand National on Don’t Push It, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, in 2010.

Pat Eddery

admin May 28, 2026

Born on March 18, 1952 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Patrick ‘Pat’ Eddery rode 4,632 winners on British soil, more than any other Flat jockey bar Sir Gordon Richards, who rode 4,870. Originally apprenticed to Seamus McGrath in County Dublin, in 1967 he crossed the Irish Sea to join Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson in Cheltenham, Gloucester and, after a slow start, rode his first winner on British soil, Alvaro, trained by Michael Pope, at Epsom on April 24, 1969.

Eddery was champion apprentice in 1971 and, the following year, became stable jockey to Peter Walwyn at Seven Barrows, Lambourn, Berkshire, for whom he would win his first two British Classics, the Oaks on Polygamy in 1974 and the Derby with Grundy in 1975. He also won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship four years running between 1974 and 1977. Eddery would become champion jockey seven more times, in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1996. His most successful season, numerically, came in 1990, when he rode 209 winners, making him the first jockey reach a double-century since the aforementioned Sir Gordon Richards rode 231 winners in 1952.

After eight years with Walwyn, Eddery became stable jockey to the original Master of Ballydoyle, Vincent O’Brien, for whom he won the Derby on Golden Fleece in 1982 and back-to-back renewals on the 2,000 Guineas on Lomond in 1983 and El Grand Senor in 1984, among other high-profile winners. Overseas, he won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe four times, on Detroit (1980), Rainbow Quest (1985), Dancing Brave (1986) and Trempolino (1987). In 1987, Eddery became retained jockey to Khalid Abdullah, the owner of Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave, an association that would yield two more British Classic winners, Quest For Fame in the Derby in 1990 and Zafonic in the 2,000 Guineas in 1993.

Richard Johnson

admin May 28, 2026

Born in Hereford on July 21, 1977, Richard Johnson rode his first winner under Rules, Rusty Bridge, owned and trained by his parents, Keith and Sue Johnson, in a hunters’ chase at Hereford on April 30, 1994. As conditional jockey to David ‘The Duke’ Nicholson, he won the conditional jockeys’ title in 1995/96 and, as a fully-fledged professional, finished runner-up in the senior jockeys’ championship no fewer than 17 times, 16 times to Tony McCoy and once to Brian Hughes. McCoy retired on April 25, April and Johnson won his first senior jockeys’ title in 2015/16, with a career-best 235 winners on British soil, before successfully defending it in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Johnson rode his last winner, Camprond, trained by Philip Hobbs, in a maiden hurdle at Taunton on March 23, 2021, before tearfully announcing his retirement, with immediate effect, at Newton Abbott on April 3, 2021. He told the ‘Racing Post’, “It was particularly important to me to finish on one for Philip and Sarah Hobbs [Brother Tedd, who finished third] who, like Henry Daly, have supported me for over 20 years. I’ll never be able to articulate what their loyalty has meant to me.”

At the end of his career, Johnson had ridden 3,819 National Hunt winners in Great Britain and Ireland, making him just the second man to exceed 3,000 winners – he reached that landmark on St. Saviour, trained by Hobbs, in a juvenile hurdle at Ludlow on February 3, 2016 – and the second-most-prolific National Hunt jockey in history, behind only McCoy. At the Cheltenham Festival, he rode total of 23 winners, including Looks Like Trouble, trained by Noel Chance, and Native River, trained by Colin Tizzard, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2000 and 2018, respectively. He also rode in the Grand National a record 21 times, without success, although he did finish second on What’s Up Boys and Balthazar King, both trained by Hobbs in 2002 and 2014.