Start time Saturday – 8:15 a.m.
Royal Ascot 2020 closes out on Saturday with a bumper eight-race card, including three Group 1s.
The 2020 renewal of Royal Ascot has been one like no other and the meeting finishes with a bang on Saturday, featuring eight races on one – a unique schedule that is underpinned by a trio of fascinating Group 1 contests.
The traditional championship races over a mile for colts and fillies – The Coronation Stakes (race four, 14:25) and The St James’s Palace Stakes (race five, 15:00) are followed by Saturday’s traditional showpiece sprint, The Diamond Jubilee Stakes. It’s a feast of top-class racing for TV viewers all over the globe, with all eight races broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports Racing and seven by ITV.
The beaten favourites in the English 1000 and 2000 Guineas, Quadrilateral and Pinatubo, seek redemption in The Coronation Stakes and The St James’s Palace Stakes respectively, and both are stars of the show on the final day.
Irish raider, Sceptical, winner of his last four races at a lower level by wide margins, is likely to start favourite for The Diamond Jubilee Stakes for jockey Frankie Dettori, but faces a strong challenge headed by last year’s runner-up, Dream Of Dreams, and the veteran multiple Group 1 winner, The Tin Man, the winner of the 2017 running of The Diamond Jubilee.
There are three highly competitive handicaps also on the final day card, plus a pair of Group 2 races for juveniles that have regularly produced winners who have gone on to Classic glory in the future.
Several previous winner will line up to contest The Queen Mary Stakes (race two, 13:15), with the field headed by Aidan O’Brien’s More Beautiful, who is a beautifully-bred half-sister to Saxon Warrior, who won the English 2000 Guineas in 2018.
The Coventry Stakes (race three, 13:50) has been won in recent years by Guineas winners such as Henrythenavigator, Canford Cliffs, Power and Dawn Approach, is the most prestigious early season race for two-year-old colts. It always attracts a high quality field and this year is no different.
With the QIPCO Leading Jockey and QIPCO Leading Trainer Awards still to be decided, Saturday promises to be a memorable final day of a meeting that has provided so many highlights already so far.
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