The King’s Stand Stakes is over five furlongs and is the second of three Group 1 races on the first day of Royal Ascot in June.
They go flat out from the starting gates for this one so a slow start can be very costly.
The race usually features battle-hardened sprinters and there are rarely excuses for beaten horses.
Famous King’s Stand Stakes Winners & History
The race emerged almost by accident when heavy ground in 1860 meant the two-mile Royal Stand Plate was replaced by a five-furlong sprint. This then became the Queen’s Stand Plate and finally the King’s Stand Stakes in 1901 following the death of Queen Victoria and the accession of King Edward VII.
The race was awarded Group 1 status in 1973, demoted to Group 2 in 1988 and re-instated at the highest level in 2008.
The first dual winner was Woolsthorpe (1895, 1897), a feat matched on eleven subsequent occasions. These include Sole Power who was a hugely popular sprinter trained in Ireland by Ed Lynam.
Sole Power burst onto the scene when winning the 2010 Nunthorpe Stakes at York at odds of 100-1. He finished eighth in this race in 2011 and third in 2012 before claiming back-to-back victories in 2013 and 2014. He started favourite for a record third victory in 2015 but had to settle for third behind Goldream.
Godolphin’s Blue Point was the most recent dual winner in 2018 and 2019, defeating Battaash on both occasions. The runner-up finally had the stage to himself in 2020 when winning impressively for Charles Hills and Jim Crowley. He was favourite to add his name to the list of two-time winners in 2021 but faded to finish fourth behind Oxted.
Other popular King’s Stand Stakes winners include Solinus (1978), Marwell (1981), Habibti (1984), Never So Bold (1985), Dayjur (1990) and Lochsong (1994).
Key King’s Stand Stakes Trials
The most influential trial for the King’s Stand Stakes in recent seasons has been the Temple Stakes at Haydock.
Four of the last twelve winners ran at Haydock before winning here, although only Profitable (2016) won both races.
Oxted (2021) ran in the Duke of York Stakes over six furlongs before dropping back in distance to win here.
King’s Stand Stakes Betting Trends
Surprisingly, Battaash (2020) was the only winning favourite in the past 12 seasons, although most winners were well-fancied. He returned at 5-6 favourite and there have been five successful second-favourites during the same period.
Sole Power (2014), Profitable (2016), Lady Aurelia (2017), Blue Point (2019) and Oxted (2021) were all second-best in the market.
Goldream (2015) was the only real surprise in recent seasons, returning at 20-1.
Little Bridge (2012) was a 12-1 chance and Sole Power was 8-1 when recording his first victory here in 2013.
Earlier previous upsets were provided by Equiano (22-1 in 2008) and Choisir (25-1 in 2003), trained in France and Australia respectively.
King’s Stand Stakes Previous Winners
Take a look at the previous winners from the King’s Stand Stakes:
Year
Winner
Age
Jockey
Trainer
2013
Sole Power
6
Johnny Murtagh
Edward Lynam
2014
Sole Power
7
Richard Hughes
Edward Lynam
2015
Goldream
6
Martin Harley
Robert Cowell
2016
Profitable
4
Adam Kirby
Clive Cox
2017
Lady Aurelia
3
John Velazquez
Wesley Ward
2018
Blue Point
4
William Buick
Charlie Appleby
2019
Blue Point
5
James Doyle
Charlie Appleby
2020
Battaash
6
Jim Crowley
Charles Hills
2021
Oxted
5
Cieren Fallon
Roger Teal
2022
Nature Strip
7
James McDonald
Chris Waller
2023
Bradsell
3
Hollie Doyle
Archie Watson
King’s Stand Stakes Previous Result
Check out the latest result on the Ascot Racing Track:
🏆King's Stand Stakes (G1) 1.010 m – 627.500 GBP – for 3yo+ 🇬🇧 Ascot
Bradsell (GB) (3C Tasleet – Russian Punch by Archipenko ) J : Hollie Doyle T: Archie Watson O :Victorious Racing B :Mrs D O'Brienpic.twitter.com/WWQX78cfx8
Check out more Ascot Results if you enjoyed this one!
King’s Stand Stakes Stats
Key King’s Stands facts:
The age group 4-6 has fared best in recent times.
Lady Aurelia did win as a three-year-old for American Trainer Wesley Ward in 2017 but the last UK-trained three-year-old winner was Dominica for Marcus Tregoning in 2002.
The Tatling (2004), Takeover Target (2006) and Sole Power (2014) all won at the age of seven.
All but two of the last twenty winners had won at least once at Group race level and around two-thirds of them had been first or second on their most recent start.
A rating of at least 113 is usually required to win the King’s Stand. Battaash (126) was the highest officially rated recent winner going into the race.
Top Trainers and Jockeys of The King’s Stand
No trainer or jockey has been able to dominate this race in recent times.
Lester Piggott’s seven winners between 1957 and 1985 is still the all-time record. His winners were Right Boy (1957), Majority Rule (1963), Swing Easy (1971), Abergwaun (1973), Godswalk (1977), Solinus (1978) and Never So Bold (1985). Four of them were trained by Vincent O’Brien who had a record five winners in total, the last being Bluebird in 1987.
Frankie Dettori’s only King’s Stand winner came aboard Lochsong in 1994.
The last ten winners have been ridden by ten different jockeys. Jim Crowley (Battaash 2020) had also won on Prohibit (2011), trained by Robert Cowell, also the trainer of Goldream (2015).
Betting on the King’s Stand Stakes
The King’s Stand Stakes is a popular ante-post betting race in the build-up to Royal Ascot.
Betting often centres around the reigning champion and there are usually some enticing offers for new customers including enhanced odds on the favourite.
There can also be some each-way value, particularly if taking the time to study the form of the overseas raiders who can sometimes be under-rated by UK bookmakers.
The most obvious target for King’s Stand Stakes winners is the five-furlong Nunthorpe Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting. Sole Power completed the double in 2014 and Lady Aurelia came within a whisker of doing so in 2017.
Blue Point made a quick reappearance to win the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the concluding Saturday of Royal Ascot whereas Battaash followed up in the King George Stakes at Goodwood.
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