Ed Nicholson: Royal Hunt Cup Preview

THE Royal Hunt Cup is one of the biggest flat racing handicaps of the entire year and is quite a spectacle as 30 horses race from across the breadth of the one mile Ascot straight in order to win connections close on £160,000 but more importantly to be added to the pantheon of horses who have won this race since 1843.

The first time the race was run over one mile though was in 1956 and it is traditionally the first big handicap of the Royal Ascot meeting, and the only one which has a perpetual trophy; in fact it is only one of three perpetual trophies at the meeting, along with the Gold Cup and the Queen’s Vase.

12 four year olds have won the race since 2007, while a number of trainers have won the race a couple of times in recent seasons. John Gosden, Saeed bin Suroor, Charles Hills and James Fanshawe have all won the race twice.

John Gosden winners have been with Royal Oath (2007) and Gm Hopkins (2015). Saeed bin Suroor won with Invisible Man (2010) and Real World (2021), while James Fanshawe’s winners have been with Macadamia (2003) and Cesare (2006).

The most recent dual winner is Charles Hills, who won the race with Afaak (2019) and Dark Shift (2022).

In the last 20 years, the leading jockey in the Royal Hunt Cup is James Doyle, who has won the race on two occasions, with Belgian Bill in 2013 and Portage in 2016, while he has been placed a further four times!

Unibet are paying two Extra Places in this race.