The
flat season for Ascot begins this year on Wednesday 1st May and in a
bold move the seven-race card day has been renamed the Ascot Trials Day
(formerly Sagaro Stakes Day) giving the meeting a much increased focus leading
into the Royal Ascot meeting in mid-June.
The
Director of Racing and Communications at Ascot had this to say about the
impending event:
“We’re really excited about developing our first flat meeting of the season in to a Royal Ascot Trials Day. This will be a high quality day of racing which will attract current and future stars of the turf and it will be a definite enhancement for horsemen, racegoers, sponsors and partners. There will be huge potential for the day to experience growth in the future and we are especially hopeful that the new Royal Ascot Two-Year old Trial will prove popular ahead of Royal Ascot in June”
All
the races on the card on Royal Ascot Trials Day will point form towards the
biggest days of racing throughout the Royal Ascot meeting with entrants in the
Group 3 Longines Sagaro Stakes being an early season contest for the Ascot Gold
Cup. This race has been won by Estimate and Colour Vision in recent years both
of whom went on to win the prestigious Gold Cup.
Excitingly
for connections, the opening race on the card, which is the dedicated Royal
Ascot Two-Year-Old Trial, will be free to enter making this event especially
attractive to owners and trainers alike. The winner of the race will then
receive complimentary entry to one of the two-year-old races during Royal Ascot
highlighting the race as an important early season indicator for two-year-olds
at Royal Ascot.
Apart
from the announcement and newest of pre-Royal Ascot focused race-days, there
have also been a couple of changes to Ascots early program of flat racing with
the addition of an EXTRA race to both days of the May Racing Weekend making
each race-card now be seven races long. There has also been some race
scheduling changes put into effect to make the May meetings more attractive for
the ITV viewing public. The most notable move is the Group 3 Jersey Stakes now
being scheduled as the second race run on the Ascot May Saturday meeting giving
it prime TV viewing time. The Jersey is a race definitely growing in
popularity, interest and prestige so this befits the move to that timeslot.
Certainly
there are some exciting times ahead for Ascot Racing through the early part of
the flat racing season in May and racegoers, connections and all involved will
likely reap the benefits of these scheduling changes and revamped races leading
into the Royal
Ascot meeting in June.
There
are many ways to enjoy Royal Ascot to the fullest and one of the best ways to
enjoy the Regal Race Carnival is to experience a Royal Ascot
Hospitality Package from one of the official Ascot
ticketing suppliers.
Enjoy
the horses and enjoy your racing!
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