King Charles Has 5 Horses Competing in Royal Ascot This Week
King Charles could make a killing at Royal Ascot this week.
The British monarch has five horses competing over the next five days, with oddsmakers predicting he will have at least one winner.
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Considered racing’s most glamorous fixture, Royal Ascot will kick off on June 18 and wrap up on June 22. Seven races are held at the Berkshire track each day—35 races in total—with some £10 million ($12.7 million) of prize money on offer. It is not yet known whether Charles and Camilla will join more than 250,000 racegoers at the multi-day affair, but the quintet of horses they own will certainly be there.
His Majesty’s Desert Hero (pictured top) will run in the Hardwicke Stakes on Saturday, as reported by the BBC. Trained by William Haggas, the 4-year-old gave the King his first victory at Royal Ascot by winning the King George V Stakes last year. The odds of the Desert Hero winning are currently 10-1, according to BettingSites.
“King Charles cheered home his Desert Hero to win at Royal Ascot last year and with five expected entries this week he’ll be hoping for more glory,” BettingSites spokesman Andy Newton said in a statement. “With several bites at the cherry, our betting experts are going 2/1 that he can crown at least one winner.”
On Thursday, Gilded Water will run the King George V Stakes with odds of 12-1, Treasure will race in the Ribblesdale Stakes with odds of 25-1, and Crown Estate will compete in the Britannia Stakes with odds of 20-1. Hard To Resist will then gallop in the Sandringham Stakes on Friday with odds of 14-1.
Interestingly, Newton says Gilded Water could be the King’s best racer. The 3-year-old was trained by William Haggas and will be ridden by jockey Tom Marquand. The duo helped Desert Hero to achieve victory at Royal Ascot in 2023.
Charles still has a long way to go if he is going to live up to his mother’s racing legacy. Queen Elizabeth II attended every Royal Ascot during her 70-year reign until 2020, when the pandemic prevented her from attending. (She was also too ill to visit the race course for the subsequent two years.) The Queen had 24 winners at Royal Ascot, notching her first victory in 1953 when Choir Boy won the Royal Hunt Cup. Only 23 wins to go, Charlie.
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