King Edward VII Stakes Betting

One of the highlights of Day Four of the five-day Royal Ascot meeting each June is the King Edward VII Stakes. It is a Group 2 flat race for three-year-old colts and geldings, conducted over one and a half miles on the right-handed turf of the renowned Ascot Racecourse. Sharing the card with this event are two other much-anticipated events restricted to three-year-olds—the mile-long Group 1 Coronation Stakes for Europe’s leading fillies and the Queen’s Vase, a two-mile Group 3 race for Thoroughbreds.

Runners in the £150,000 King Edward VII Stakes carry eight stone twelve pounds. A penalty of three pounds is applied to any entrant that has won a Group 1 or Group 2 event covering one and a quarter miles or more.

As its name implies, this event honours the memory of King Edward VII (1841-1910). When the race was first run in 1834, it was known as the Ascot Derby Stakes and open to fillies and mares. In 1926, the current name was conferred, although its Derby days remain a proud part of the race heritage, as does its connection to the Group 1 Epsom Derby, which is run two weeks earlier. Many of the entries here arrive fresh from running in the classic event.

The last winner of the original Derby Stakes was Solario, an Irish Bay that parlayed his 1925 win here into a St. Leger victory in the fall and then went on to capture the Gold Cup and the Coronation Cup the following year. Another winner of the Gold Cup after success in the King Edward VII Stakes was Precipitation in 1936-37. And Mutafaweq followed up his win here by doubling it with the St. Leger in 1999.

Of all jockeys to vie for the lead here, Morny Cannon gained the most career victories—a total of seven in all. His first win came on St. Simon of the Rock in 1891 and his last was aboard Darley Dale in 1904. In between, he had success on Matchmaker in 1895, Conroy in 1896, Frontier in 1899, Osboch in 1901 and Flying Lemur in 1902.

Among trainers, one stands out head and shoulders above the crowd. John Porter schooled nine winners between 1867 and 1904, including Matchmaker, Conroy, Frontier, Flying Lemur and Darley Dale among them. He also prevailed with The Palmer in 1867, Pero Gomez in 1869, Shotover in 1882 and The Child of the Mist in 1885.

More recently, Sir Michael Stoute has had some good fortune training winners for the King Edward VII Stakes. His victory total presently stands at five, including the 2006 winner Papal Bull, along with Shareef Dancer in 1983, Saddler’s Hall in 1991, Foyer in 1994 and Balakheri in 2004.

Giving the knighted trainer a good challenge is Henry Cecil. He had six wins as of 2000 and seemed to stall, but then came his seventh in the form of Father Time in 2009. Also in contention are Mark Johnson and Saeed bin Suroor. Between them, they have claimed three of the latest four winners, including Boscobel in 2007, Campanologist in 2008 and Monterosso in 2010. John Gosden, whose Plea Bargain won in 2004, is another trainer whose starters can always be found near the front.

Since 2000, only one runner priced above 7/1 has proved victorious in the King Edward VII Stakes. During the same period, no runner priced over 9/1 has succeeded. Apart from keeping an eye Epsom Derby participants and looking for hopefuls at middling odds, be sure to see who the riders are. Michael Kinane and Kieran Fallon have a pair of wins apiece here, and Frankie Dettori has three, including two of the most recent three.

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