Royal Hunt Cup

The Royal Hunt Cup is a handicap over a mile for three-year-olds and upwards at Royal Ascot.  It currently takes place on the second day of the meeting.

The Royal Hunt Cup takes place on the 19th June 2024.

There has only ever been one dual winner of this competitive handicap, Master Vote way back in 1947-48. Notable recent winners include Mighty Fly (1983), Colour Sergeant (1992), Yeast (1996), Mine (2004), Forgotten Voice (2009) and Real World (2021).

Find out more about the Royal Hunt Cup:

Race Overview – Royal Hunt Cup

The Royal Hunt Cup is a flat handicap horse event hosted for horses aged three and above. It is held annually June at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) as part of the Royal Meeting.

Check out our guides to all the other UK Premier Handicap horse races.

Royal Hunt Cup Previous Winners

Royal Hunt Cup Previous Result

Famous Royal Hunt Cup Winners

The first running of the Royal Hunt Cup took place in 1843 with victory going to Knight Of The Whistle. The race was originally run on the round course but now takes place on the straight mile.

Mighty Fly won this race for David Elsworth and Steve Cauthen in 1983. The talented four-year-old was quite popular at around 12-1. The trainer would land the prize again in 1990 with the 50-1 chance Pontenuovo, ridden by Gary Bardwell.

The race traditionally features some major gambles but successful ones have been few and far between. True Panache was a wholesale gamble prior to the start at a rain-soaked Ascot in 1989 and duly landed the spoils for trainer Jeremy Tree and jockey Pat Eddery. He was the only winning favourite between 1980 and 1996 when Kieren Fallon won on Yeast for William Haggas.

Mine won the race at odds of 16-1 in 2004 for James Bethell and Richard Quinn. The horse would go into the history books for a remarkable three victories in the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket (2002, 2005 and 2006).

Royal Oath (2007) was one of the few Hunt Cup winners to go on to success outside of handicap company. He went on to win the King Edward Stakes at Woodbine in Canada in 2008 for John Gosden. Walter Swinburn enjoyed the greatest moment of his short training career when saddling 12-1 chance Julienas to win this race in 2011.

The last major gamble to be landed in the Royal Hunt Cup was Forgotten Voice for Jeremy Noseda and Johnny Murtagh in 2009. He started 4-1 favourite after winning on the all-weather and made a mockery of his handicap mark. He did not win again until scoring in a novice hurdle at Bangor-on-Dee for Nicky Henderson in 2012 but would make a successful return to the flat, eventually winning a Group 3 at Goodwood in 2013.

Real World stormed to victory for Godolphin in 2021, finishing clear on the far side of the track at odds of 18-1. It was the first of five successive victories, culminating in a Group 2 success at Meydan in January 2022.

Key Royal Hunt Cup Trials

Winners of the Royal Hunt Cup have come from races scattered far and wide in recent years.

Only one of the last twelve had actually won on their previous start.

Horses with recent form in big handicaps at Newmarket, York and Epsom usually feature prominently in the betting.

Five of the last twelve Royal Hunt Cup winners ran at Goodwood in the Golden Mile but all were beaten with only one managing to be placed.

Only one of those twelve managed to win on their next start and that was Real World (2021) who won the Steventon Stakes at Newbury.

Royal Hunt Cup Betting Trends

It is a sobering thought for punters that Forgotten Voice (2009) is the only winning favourite in the last 25 years!

There have been some well-backed winners, notably GM Hopkins (2015) for John Gosden and Ryan Moore and Dark Vision (2020) for Mark Johnston and William Buick.

Long priced winners have been coming in quite regularly in this race. Invisible Man (2010) returned at 28-1 for Saeed bin Suroor and Frankie Dettori in 2010.

Zhui Feng (2017) was a 25-1 shot for Amanda Perrett and Martin Dwyer in 2017. Field Of Dream (2014) and Afaak (2019) both returned at 20-1 in a race where bookmakers have certainly had the upper hand.

Four-year-olds have won six of the last seven renewals, a sequence only interrupted by five-year-old Afaak.

Field Of Dream was the oldest winner of modern times when scoring as a seven-year-old for Jamie Osborne and Adam Kirby.

The last twelve winners have all been officially rated between 93 and 105. Nine of those winners were drawn 11 or higher, although Real World’s runaway success from stall 4 in 2021 completely shattered the perceived bias against a low draw.

Royal Hunt Cup – Top Trainers and Jockeys

This is an incredibly tough race to win so it is not surprising to find the leading trainer dating back well over a century! That honour is still retained by James Jewitt who saddled five winners between 1882 and 1897. Saeed bin Suroor’s two winners were both seemingly unfancied; Invisible Man (2010) and Real World (2021). John Gosden has also won it twice; Royal Oath (2007) and GM Hopkins (2015).

The leading jockey honours in the Royal Hunt Cup are currently shared by Charles Wood (1875 to 1887) and Lester Piggott (1963 to 1976) with four winners apiece. Frankie Dettori has won it twice; Surprise Encounter (2001) and Invisible Man (2010), as has James Doyle; Belgian Bill (2013) and Portage (2016).

Betting on the Royal Hunt Cup

The Royal Hunt Cup is arguably the trickiest betting race of the week. Punters were confident they had narrowed it down to horses drawn high last year only to see Real World storm home on the opposite side of the track.

Bookmakers usually offer enhanced place terms on the Royal Hunt Cup down to fifth or sixth place so there is at least plenty of scope for each-way betting.

Summary of Royal Hunt Cup

We hope you have enjoyed our Royal Hunt Cup guide, we have looked at history, betting, tips and more so you have all the info you need whether placing a bet or enjoying the race.

The Royal Hunt Cup is held on the same day as the following races listed below:

• Prince Of Wales Stakes
• Queen’s Vase
• Queen Mary Stakes
• Duke Of Cambridge Stakes
• Windsor Castle Stakes

Thank you for reading our Royal Hunt Cup guide, we hope you enjoyed it and found all the information you were looking for!

If you enjoyed reading this page then make sure you check out our other Ascot Race pages linked above.

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