Royal Ascot 2013: Estimate
When Estimate won Royal Ascot's Gold Cup for the Queen, it was the first time a reigning monarch had won the race in its entire history.
In 2012, the Sir Michael Stoute trained Estimate carried her majesty’s silks into the Royal Ascot winners’ enclosure, when scoring in the Queen’s Vase.
A year later, the four-year-old filly stepped into Grade One company for the first time in the Ascot Gold Cup and the rest is history.
Who can forget the Queen’s beaming smile that day? Had she been secretly following horse racing tips at 888sport? It’s an abiding Royal Ascot memory that will always be cherished...
Royal Ascot 2012: Frankel
The late Sir Henry Cecil's wonder horse flew to Group One glory in the 2012 Queen Anne Stakes.
Registering his 11th victory from 11 starts, Frankel gave his rivals a sound 11-length beating, and returned home at odds of 1/10. Cecil admitted there had been a lot of pressure.
“It’s a relief (that he has won). Things have to go right and no horse is a certainty. He is a great, great horse and you needn’t ask me about him.
"You have seen him for yourselves, so everyone can form their own opinion. I prepared him as well as I could, and he couldn’t have done any more,” he said.
Royal Ascot 1981 & 82: Ardross
In 1981 many thought that Lester Piggott’s best riding days had gone.
27 years on from his first Derby winner, 10 since winning the last of his nine jockey’s championships and now replaced by Pat Eddery at Vincent O’Brien’s, Piggott teamed up with Henry Cecil and all the doubters were silenced as they enjoyed another championship season.
Nothing capped that season off better than Piggott’s sublime skill in the saddle aboard Ardross in the Ascot Gold Cup - Ardross being one of the most gifted stayers ever to grace a racetrack.
Cecil one said of Ardross: “Such a consistent, genuine and hard trying horse with a huge range of trips and very versatile. He almost won the Arc”.
Royal Ascot 1929: Brown Jack
Brown Jack, ridden by Steve Donoghue, was the winner of the Ascot Stakes in 1928. The following year at Royal Ascot Brown Jack recorded the first of his six consecutive Queen Alexandra Stakes, the longest race in the Flat racing calendar.
His sequence of victories made him one of the most popular racehorses in the history of horseracing on these shores and he is arguably Royal Ascot’s “greatest equine legend”.
A bronze statue of Brown Jack, sculpted by Sir Alfred Munnings, can be found within the Ascot grounds.
What makes the Brown Jack story even more remarkable is that he started his career as a hurdler and even won the Champion Hurdle as a four-year-old before switching to the flat code.
Royal Ascot 2012: Black Caviar
The fact that the Australian wonder mare had travelled thousands of miles across the globe to line up at the Royal Ascot meeting made the Diamond Jubilee Stakes the most eagerly anticipated race of the week.
All was going swimmingly for the 1/6 favourite as she coasted into a two-length lead a furlong out, before her jockey Luke Nolen inexplicably eased up near the winning post and she was almost nabbed on the line.
Black Caviar retired as one of the most famous horses in the world, clocking up an impressive run of 25 consecutive wins.
Sadly Australian entries at Royal Ascot have been on the decline with the King's Stand Stakes outsider Houtzen being the only runner set to represent the country, which won the King's Stand four times between 2003-09.
Royal Ascot 1953: Choir Boy
The Queen enjoyed her first ever win as the reigning monarch in 1953 when her horse Choir Boy won the Royal Hunt Cup.
The victory took place just a few weeks after the Queen’s coronation, which undoubtedly was a great start to the monarch’s Royal Ascot patronage.
The Doug Smith ridden horse won in fine style, pulling away from the field and sending the assembled crowd into rapturous applause.
Royal Ascot 2003: Choisir
Choisir was the first Australian-trained horse to win in Britain and achieved the remarkable feat of winning both the King’s Stand Stakes and the Golden Jubilee Stakes in the same Royal Ascot week – that’s one for the betting calculator if you did the double?
A Group One-winning sprinter in Australia, the Paul Perry-trained Choisir was sent off an unfancied 25/1 shot in the King’s Stand Stakes, but his connections quietly rated their chances.
Shannon Perry, assistant to his father Paul, said: “He’s a monster of a horse – like a brahma bull – and Johnny Murtagh will feel the power. I expect him to be hard to catch”.
The son of Danehill Dancer led wire-to-wire and was described by Murtagh as a “monster” following their success.
Royal Ascot 1990: Fox Chapel
Fox Chapel goes down in the history books as being the biggest priced outsider to win at the Royal meeting.
On rain softened ground, jockey Gary Hind bounced his mount out of stall seven, stole a march on the rest of the field, and ploughed a lone straight furrow to the line, never eyeballing a rival and coming home at odds of 100/1.
Prior to his Royal Ascot exploits, Fox Chapel, who was trained by Richard Hannon, had won a three-runner maiden at Salisbury over 6f at the age of two, but did diddly squat in three subsequent outings, going on to prove that nothing is impossible at Royal Ascot.
Royal Ascot 2019: Winners?
We cannot guarantee you any 100/1 winners, but we did offer you seven horses to watch out for at Royal Ascot the other day.
One of them is now sadly a non-runner, but the remaining six are a real mixture of prices and they may interest you over the course of the Royal Ascot meeting.
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
