The Royal Hunt Cup

ASCOT, ENGLAND - JUNE 20: Jimmy Fortune and Royal Oath land The Royal Hunt Cup Race run at Ascot Racecourse during the Second day of The Royal Meeting held at the Berkshire track on June 20, 2007, in Ascot, England. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)

The Royal Hunt Cup follows the Prince of Wales Stakes, and is the fourth race of day two of the Royal Ascot meeting. The 2008 Royal Hunt Cup will be run 4:20pm on Wednesday the 21st of June.

The Royal Hunt Cup was first run in 1843 when it was won by Lord Chesterfield's horse Knight of the Thistle. Today the event is run as a heritage handicap race that has a reputation for attracting large fields.

The Royal Hunt Cup is open to horses aged three and older and is run over the mile course at Ascot. Although the horses involved in the race are not the best on display at the Royal Ascot, the race does provide one of the spectacles of the tournament with up to 30 racehorses thundering over the Ascot turf at full speed.

Royal Hunt Cup Winners

Despite the fact that racehorses can compete in successive Royal Hunt Cups, the handicaps enforced mean that the race has a tendency to produce a new winner with each year of running. The most recent Royal Hunt Cup winner was Royal Oath, who did his short 9-1 odds justice by winning the Royal Hunt Cup in 2007.

The Royal Hunt Cup winners' title has proven to be equally slippery for England's top jockeys. Although crowd favourites Kieran Fallon and Frankie Dettori have both won the race in the last decade, they have been unable to achieve additional wins.

The handicap and large field make fielding even the strongest runner something of a lottery. James Fanshawe is the only trainer to have succeeded in producing two Royal Hunt Cup winners in recent years.

Royal Hunt Cup Betting

Making a smart Royal Hunt Cup bet is all about paying attention to recent trends in the race. Although long odds racehorses rarely win the Royal Hunt Cup, neither does the short odds favourites. In fact, in the last decade seven Royal Hunt Cup winners have had 11-1 odds or higher, with the longest-odds winner being Norton in 2002 at 25-1.

The weight of the handicap appears to be another important consideration for Royal Hunt Cup betting, with only one horse in the last decade winning the race whilst carrying over nine stone.

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