Ascot Gold Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Royal Ascot)

Analyse the Ascot Gold Cup, focusing on trainer and jockey success. Review past winners to identify patterns in this premier long-distance Group 1 race.
Ascot Gold Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Royal Ascot)
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Expert Guide

You know how punters get lost in too much data or bet blindly? I break down the stats and trends so you can feel confident you’re betting with more than just gut instinct.

2026 Ascot Gold Cup Preview

First established back in 1807, the Ascot Gold Cup is a Group 1 horse race run over a marathon trip of just shy of two miles and four furlongs. The race was originally open to three-year-olds and older, but was changed to four-year-olds and older, which is how it is to the present day.

A couple of fun facts regarding the Ascot Gold Cup, the 1844 winner was unnamed at the point of winning the race, because Nicholas I of Russia was in attendance, and the horse was named 'The Emperor' in honour of the monarch.

In 1907, the Gold Cup was stolen, and at the same time as the American writer Mark Twain made a visit to the country, the morning headlines on the paper read 'Mark Twain Arrives' and 'Ascot Gold Cup Stolen', which Twain found amusing.

The legendary Yeats won this race four years on the bounce (2006-2009), which makes him the most successful runner in the race. Lester Piggott had an incredible record in the race, between 1957 & 1982, the jockey won the race no fewer than eleven times!

Ascot Gold Cup Information:

We also have a dedicated Royal Ascot tips page that will cover this race as well as all of the other races on the day of the race. See which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are predicting to win this race and the others on the cards. We cover every race at Royal Ascot, and below you can find links to all of the races for each of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. In addition to those, we also cover numerous races at Ascot during the flat season; you can find links to those here.

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How competitive is the Ascot Gold Cup market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2024 when the race had an over-round of 112%. The race in 2016 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 130%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Ascot Gold Cup, the over-round has been 120%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £120 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2026 Ascot Gold Cup Trends. See which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal. We also have a section that looks at the Ascot Gold Cup Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Ascot Gold Cup races over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Trawlerman (4:15.02) in 2025
  2. Rite Of Passage (4:16.92) in 2010
  3. Kyprios (4:18.06) in 2024

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? Over the past 20 renewals, if you had followed the winner of the Ascot Gold Cup next time out, then you would have backed a total of 10 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since their win at SP next time out would have returned an LSP of -2.12. Ahead of the 2026 Ascot Gold Cup, why not head over to the racing predictions for tips on other races today?

Over the last 20 renewals, it was Trawlerman, trained by John & Thady Gosden and ridden by William Buick, who set the fastest winning time in the Ascot Gold Cup. That runner won the race in a time of 4:15.02 in 2025. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Saeed bin Suroor and jockey Frankie Dettori with Colour Vision who set the slowest winning time; the race-winning time was 4:42.05 in the 2012 renewal.

What the expert says...
The Goodwood Cup is usually the destination for the winner of this with eleven of then between 2006-24 heading there. Of those eleven, seven have gone on to success so a fairly decent return.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Ascot Gold Cup Past Winners

Here are the Ascot Gold Cup past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won, along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Ascot Gold Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2025
4:15.02
Trawlerman (IRE)
7yo 9-4 (2 of 8) 85/40F
William Buick
John & Thady Gosden (GB)
2024
4:18.06
Kyprios (IRE)
6yo 9-4 (8 of 9) 11/10F
Ryan Moore
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2023
4:20.97
Courage Mon Ami (GB)
4yo 9-3 (9 of 12) 15/2
Frankie Dettori
John & Thady Gosden (GB)
2022
4:26.52
Kyprios (IRE)
4yo 9-3 (5 of 9) 13/8F
Ryan Moore
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2021
4:20.28
Subjectivist (GB)
4yo 9-1 (4 of 12) 13/2
Joe Fanning
Mark Johnston (GB)
2020
4:32.60
Stradivarius (IRE)
6yo 9-2 (2 of 8) 4/5F
Frankie Dettori
John Gosden (GB)
2019
4:30.88
Stradivarius (IRE)
5yo 9-2 (2 of 11) 1/1F
Frankie Dettori
John Gosden (GB)
2018
4:21.08
Stradivarius (IRE)
4yo 9-1 (6 of 9) 7/4F
Frankie Dettori
John Gosden (GB)
2017
4:22.40
Big Orange (GB)
6yo 9-2 (7 of 14) 5/1
James Doyle
Michael Bell (GB)
2016
4:26.21
Order Of St George (IRE)
4yo 9-0 (10 of 17) 10/11F
Ryan Moore
A P O'Brien (IRE)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Ascot Gold Cup have been based:

  • GB: 10 winners with an additional 23 placings from 150 runners
  • IRE: 10 winners with an additional 11 placings from 50 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 5 placings from 19 runners
  • GER: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 7 runners
  • USA: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner
  • SPA: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner
  • SAF: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

2025 Ascot Gold Cup Replay


Ascot Gold Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Ascot Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals is A P O'Brien, who has won the race nine times, with those nine winners coming from Yeats (2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009), Fame And Glory (2011), Leading Light (2014), Order Of St George (2016) and Kyprios (2022 & 2024). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Ascot Gold Cup are John Gosden (3 wins) and John & Thady Gosden (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Ascot Gold Cup; Andrew Balding has sent a total of 11 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Ascot Gold Cup trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
A P O'Brien24-9-13+1.43-1.62
John Gosden9-3-3-2.45-3.87
John & Thady Gosden8-2-5+3.63+3.08
Saeed bin Suroor14-1-2-7.00-6.10
Sir Michael Stoute7-1-3-2.50-2.20
D K Weld3-1-2+18.00+10.75
Ed Dunlop3-1-1+10.00+5.20
Michael Bell2-1-1+4.00+2.00
Andrew Balding11-0-2-11.00-9.03
W P Mullins9-0-1-9.00-8.00

Ascot Gold Cup Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Ascot Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals is Frankie Dettori, who has won the race five times, with those five winners coming from Colour Vision (2012), Stradivarius (2018, 2019 & 2020) and Courage Mon Ami (2023). The only other jockey to have recorded multiple wins in the Ascot Gold Cup is Ryan Moore (4 wins).

Here are some of the top Ascot Gold Cup jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Frankie Dettori17-5-6+5.05-1.07
Ryan Moore20-4-9-8.86-6.95
William Buick15-1-3-11.87-10.32
James Doyle7-1-2-1.00-1.80
Jamie Spencer7-1-2-4.62-3.47
Joe Fanning4-1-2+3.50+1.85
Jim Crowley8-0-2-8.00+0.30
Oisin Murphy7-0-1-7.00-6.23
Silvestre De Sousa6-0-1-6.00-5.15
Mickael Barzalona5-0-3-5.00-0.70

Ascot Gold Cup Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor, which has produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +10.61, is when runners were 1st in the betting market.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran in a race restricted to 3yo on debut, when backing these, the trend shows a record of 0-41.

Here are the most recent winning draws, along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2025: Winner in 2 (1,5) [8 Runners]
  • 2024: Winner in 8 (3,9) [9 Runners]
  • 2023: Winner in 9 (12,11) [12 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 5 (7,2) [9 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 4 (5,6) [12 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Ascot Gold Cup is Leopardstown; there have been a total of 5 winners of this race who ran at Leopardstown last time out. The next best courses, which have produced the second most winners, are Sandown and Navan; there have been a total of 3 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes, with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 207 runners, whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 22 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Ascot Gold Cup:

  • Sadlers Wells (4 Wins)
  • Galileo (3 Wins)
  • Sea The Stars (3 Wins)
  • Montjeu (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Ascot Gold Cup despite multiple attempts:

  • Dubawi (0 Wins from 10 runners)
  • Halling (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Rite Of Passage in 2010, winning for D K Weld at odds of 20/1 under the guidance of Pat Smullen. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals, there have been 13 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find a bet on the 2026 Ascot Gold Cup.

Route to the Ascot Gold Cup

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Ascot Gold Cup. These are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2025 - Trawlerman
Sandown - 1st of 4 (4/5)
Star Sports Henry II Stakes
2024 - Kyprios
Leopardstown - 1st of 6 (1/12)
Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes
2023 - Courage Mon Ami
Goodwood - 1st of 8 (6/4)
Tony Barrett Memorial Handicap
2022 - Kyprios
Leopardstown - 1st of 4 (1/10)
Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes
2021 - Subjectivist
Meydan - 1st of 11 (13/2)
Dubai Gold Cup
2020 - Stradivarius
Newmarket (Rowley) - 3rd of 7 (4/1)
Coronation Cup
2019 - Stradivarius
York - 1st of 8 (4/5)
Yorkshire Cup
2018 - Stradivarius
York - 1st of 8 (4/6)
Yorkshire Cup
2017 - Big Orange
Sandown - 1st of 7 (4/5)
Matchbook VIP Henry II Stakes
2016 - Order Of St George
Leopardstown - 1st of 5 (2/7)
Seamus & Rosemary McGrath Memorial Saval Beg Stakes

Schedule for Tuesday at the Royal Ascot Meeting

The five-day Royal Ascot meeting kicks off on Tuesday with three Group 1 events on the seven-race card, with the Queen Anne Stakes, King Charles II Stakes and St James's Palace Stakes all part of the British Champions Series.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:30 Royal Ascot
Queen Anne Stakes
Docklands (GB)
5yo - 14/1
Harry Eustace
Mark Zahra
15:05 Royal Ascot
Coventry Stakes
Gstaad (GB)
2yo - 7/2
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
15:40 Royal Ascot
King Charles III Stakes
American Affair (GB)
5yo - 11/1
Jim Goldie
Paul Mulrennan
16:20 Royal Ascot
St James's Palace Stakes
Field Of Gold (IRE)
3yo - 8/11
John & Thady Gosden
Colin Keane
17:00 Royal Ascot
Ascot Stakes
Ascending (IRE)
6yo - 20/1
Henry De Bromhead
W J Lee
17:35 Royal Ascot
Wolferton Stakes
Haatem (IRE)
4yo - 8/1
Richard Hannon
James Doyle
18:10 Royal Ascot
Copper Horse Stakes
French Master (IRE)
4yo - 5/2
John & Thady Gosden
James Doyle

Schedule for Wednesday at the Royal Ascot Meeting

The feature race on the second day of Royal Ascot is the Prince of Wales's Stakes, a race which carries a prize fund of £1m and is part of the British Champions Series.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:30 Royal Ascot
Queen Mary Stakes
True Love (IRE)
2yo - 9/4
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
15:05 Royal Ascot
Queen's Vase
Carmers (IRE)
3yo - 9/2
P Twomey
W J Lee
15:40 Royal Ascot
Duke of Cambridge Stakes
Crimson Advocate (USA)
4yo - 13/2
John & Thady Gosden
James McDonald
16:20 Royal Ascot
Prince of Wales's Stakes
Ombudsman (IRE)
4yo - 7/1
John & Thady Gosden
William Buick
17:00 Royal Ascot
Royal Hunt Cup
My Cloud (IRE)
4yo - 3/1
Roger Varian
Silvestre De Sousa
17:35 Royal Ascot
Kensington Palace Stakes
Miss Information (IRE)
4yo - 11/1
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy
18:10 Royal Ascot
Windsor Castle Stakes
Havana Hurricane (GB)
2yo - 7/1
Eve Johnson Houghton
Charles Bishop

Schedule for Thursday at the Royal Ascot Meeting

There are a couple of decent handicaps on the third day of Royal Ascot, the highlight of the day, though, is the Ascot Gold Cup, a Group 1 marathon for the flat runners.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:30 Royal Ascot
Norfolk Stakes
Charles Darwin (IRE)
2yo - 8/13
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
15:05 Royal Ascot
King George V Stakes
Merchant (IRE)
3yo - 3/1
William Haggas
Tom Marquand
15:40 Royal Ascot
Ribblesdale Stakes
Garden Of Eden (IRE)
3yo - 7/1
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
16:20 Royal Ascot
Ascot Gold Cup
Trawlerman (IRE)
7yo - 85/40
John & Thady Gosden
William Buick
17:00 Royal Ascot
Britannia Stakes
Arabian Story (IRE)
3yo - 15/2
Saeed bin Suroor
Oisin Murphy
17:35 Royal Ascot
Hampton Court Stakes
Trinity College (IRE)
3yo - 5/2
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
18:10 Royal Ascot
Buckingham Palace Stakes
Never So Brave (IRE)
4yo - 4/1
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy

Schedule for Friday at the Royal Ascot Meeting

A couple of British Champions Series races on the Friday at Royal Ascot, the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs and then the Coronation Stakes over just shy of a mile.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:30 Royal Ascot
Albany Stakes
Venetian Sun (IRE)
2yo - 7/1
K R Burke
Clifford Lee
15:05 Royal Ascot
Commonwealth Cup
Time For Sandals (IRE)
3yo - 25/1
Harry Eustace
Richard Kingscote
15:40 Royal Ascot
Duke of Edinburgh Stakes
Ethical Diamond (IRE)
5yo - 3/1
W P Mullins
Ryan Moore
16:20 Royal Ascot
Coronation Stakes
Cercene (IRE)
3yo - 33/1
Joseph G Murphy
Gary Carroll
17:00 Royal Ascot
Sandringham Stakes
Never Let Go (GB)
3yo - 22/1
Ed Walker
Kieran Shoemark
17:35 Royal Ascot
King Edward VII Stakes
Amiloc (GB)
3yo - 11/8
Ralph Beckett
Rossa Ryan
18:10 Royal Ascot
Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes
Adrestia (GB)
3yo - 10/1
Simon & Ed Crisford
Oisin Murphy

Schedule for Saturday at the Royal Ascot Meeting

The final day of Royal Ascot is all about the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, a Group 1 race run over six furlongs which is part of the British Champions Series and carries a prize fund of £1m.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:30 Royal Ascot
Chesham Stakes
Humidity (GB)
2yo - 4/1
Andrew Balding
James Doyle
15:05 Royal Ascot
Hardwicke Stakes
Rebels Romance (IRE)
7yo - 6/4
Charlie Appleby
William Buick
15:40 Royal Ascot
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes
Lazzat (FR)
4yo - 9/2
J Reynier
James Doyle
16:20 Royal Ascot
Jersey Stakes
Noble Champion (IRE)
3yo - 25/1
Ed Walker
Kieran Shoemark
17:00 Royal Ascot
Wokingham Stakes
Get It (GB)
7yo - 28/1
George Baker
Seamie Heffernan
17:35 Royal Ascot
Golden Gates Stakes
Quai De Bethune (FR)
3yo - 12/1
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy
18:10 Royal Ascot
Queen Alexandra Stakes
Sober (FR)
6yo - 4/5
W P Mullins
Ryan Moore

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Ascot Gold Cup Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for Flat Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Expert Guide

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Expert Guide

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for flat racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful flat racing blogs for OLBG.

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