Royal Ascot 2026 tips: Ante-post selections by our expert

It is Flat racing’s biggest week, one which the King attends, with Royal carriages aplenty and races with an international feel to boot – it can only be Royal Ascot. It is part of the summer social season with a healthy dose of world-class racing on top – there will be 35 races run across five days at the Berkshire course. The prestigious meeting features eight Group One races such as the Gold Cup, St James’s Palace Stakes and Commonwealth Cup, and is a festival of fashion, hospitality and Royal patronage. Here are Telegraph Sport’s tips for the week. Day One: Tuesday 16th June 2.30 Queen Anne Stakes The meeting opens with a bang and the first Group One race of the week over Ascot’s stiff straight mile. Occasionally you get a funny result and the winners of the main trial, the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury – last month it was won by this race’s favourite Notable Speech – only have a so-so record in the race. This year, you would think this race is Notable Speech’s to lose. Few milers have his turn of foot at the finish but Charlie Appleby’s horses are hardly coming into the meeting on fire. His strike rate is not bad but he has not been running many. His second string, Opera Ballo, put himself in line for a crack at this when beating Field of Gold by three lengths at Sandown in April. He won a Group One at Meydan in the winter, but this is a step up in class. No horse likes Ascot more than DOCKLANDS though. He won the Britannia, was second in this race in 2024 then won it last year. More Thunder should be closer to Notable Speech than he was at Newbury. 3.05 Coventry Stakes Continuing with the theme that the best racing of the whole week is day one, this six-furlong Group Two race is the most prestigious two-year-old race of the week. Aidan O’Brien, who has won it 11 times, will have the likely favourite in either Great Barrier Reef – winner of both his starts including a Group Three last time – or Confucius – a good winner of his maiden last time – depending on which Ryan Moore selects. At a working man’s price I like Richard Hannon’s CUT A DASH, a good winner over five furlongs at York on debut in May, with the promise of more to come over a longer distance. As the father of two flame-haired daughters, I will put the family fiver will be on the 50-1 shot The Ginger Kid. 3.40 King Charles III Stakes Still known in many quarters as the King’s Stand Stakes but renamed in honour of the King, this five-furlong Group One sprint is for the quickest horses at Ascot. The received wisdom is that a medium Aussie sprinter is still better than anything Europe has to offer, so Overpass is likely to start favourite but it has been a while between drinks for him. Last year’s winner, Jim Goldie’s AMERICAN AFFAIR, did not run again in 2025, but his two runs this year, including a much-improved second in the Temple Stakes, will have put him spot on for a repeat. Others to look out for include Night Raider, who is much improved for the snip, and the flying French filly Rayevka. 4.20 St James’s Palace Stakes The Group One mile for three-year-old colts, on the Round Course, has done what it should do, which is attract the winners of the English, Irish and French Guineas and anything else which missed the boat in the early Classics. BOW ECHO, Gstaad, Rayif and Talk of New York are all set to line up in this year’s renewal. In trying to turn the Newmarket tables on Bow Echo, Gstaad will have pacemakers but George Boughey’s colt should still be too good. 5.00 Ascot Stakes While most Flat trainers go for a cup of tea at this stage, their jump counterparts get one of their moments of the week in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap which is nearly always won by a predominantly jump trainer. The King and Queen might have Reaching High in this if he makes the cut. He has not run since finishing ninth last year, but not that far behind Ascending, the winner. An interesting one is Henry de Bromhead’s 11-year-old hurdler BALLYADAM. He is regularly placed in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham,but because he has run in so few Flat races he may be very well handicapped judged on his recent win. 5.35 Wolferton Stakes A mile-and-a-quarter Listed race for horses which have not won a Group One or Two since last August. The King and Queen might have recent York winner Warrant Holder in this. It was won by Richard Hannon’s HAATEM last year and he is back for another go in the Wathnan silks, which, in a short space of time, have made this meeting its raison d’être – if in doubt in any race this week go for one of theirs. 6.10 Copper Horse Stakes Another long-distance handicap for those with a touch of the slows. Nicky Henderson’s GOBLET OF FIRE looked better for a wind operation when winning over the trip on quick ground at Newmarket. Flat racing appears much more his thing than jumping and he could provide Saffie Osborne, who is having a terrific season, with her first, overdue, winner at the Royal meeting.