5 Fantastic Royal Ascot Winners

5 Fantastic Royal Ascot Winners

June is Royal Ascot month and the famed horse race meeting will deliver five days of races featuring some of the world’s top horses and jockeys. Royal Ascot delivers 30 races across its five days with the Gold Cup being the festival’s biggest race of them all. Horse racing punters are anticipating this year’s festival and can get Royal Ascot free bets before the races begin and wager on their favourite horses.

Since Royal Ascot was first run in 1711, there have been some iconic horses to compete on the race course’s hallowed turf. As the excitement grows for Royal Ascot 2020, here is a look back at 5 fantastic Royal Ascot winners from the past.

Ardross – 1981, 1982

Jockey Lester Piggot was on the downward slope of his career after being sacked by Vincent O’Brien. He was still good enough to hook up with trainer Henry Cecil and the 1981 season saw the ageing jockey returned to form. Piggott won the Jockey Championship that season and his win in the Ascot Gold Cup was one of the most remarkable. Piggott rode Ardross to the win in 1981 and followed it up with a second triumph atop the horse the following year.

Choisir – 2003

In 2003, Choisir became the first horse trained in Australia to win a race in Great Britain. Choisir didn’t just win once but twice in the same week at Royal Ascot. The Aussie horse was victorious in the King’s Stand Stakes and the Golden Jubilee Stakes. Punters who had placed a double-win bet on Choisir to race to victory in both events would have cleaned up. Choisir was a long shot 25/1 when the King’s Stand Stakes kicked off.

Black Caviar – 2012

The Diamond Jubilee was Royal Ascot’s most highly anticipated race in 2012. Black Caviar had travelled around the globe to arrive in Britain from Australia, and there were plenty of race experts curious as to whether or not the mare could race to victory. It didn’t take long to find out if the horse had what it takes to win as Black Caviar, a 1/6 favourite, cruised to the win despite a late charge from the competition.

Frankel – 2012

Like Ardross, Frankel was trained by Cecil and ran to glory at Royal Ascot. Frankel won five times at the legendary horse race festival but none were more exciting than his 2012 victory in the Queen Anne Stakes. The victory was Frankel’s 11^th in 11 straight race straights. Frankel would stay unbeaten in 14 total races before being retired. He has been called the greatest race horse in British history.

Estimate – 2013

Estimate raced to a number of high-profiled trophies over the course of a six-year racing career. The filly’s biggest moment came in the 2013 Ascot Gold Cup as the then-four-year-old entered Grand One racing. Estimate came on late in the Gold Cup to win the race and return the famed event's trophy to the Royal Family. Owned by Queen Elizabeth II, Estimate also won the Ascot Queen’s Vase in 2012. Unfortunately, the filly would never reach the same glory and struggled with injury in the following years.