Summary
Royal Ascot 2027 runs from Tuesday 15 June to Saturday 19 June. Ladies’ Day is Thursday 17 June, jump to Ladies’ Day, the day of the Gold Cup. Each day has seven races and opens with the Royal Procession at 2pm, jump to The Procession. Tuesday has three of the week’s eight Group 1 races, the top level of the sport. In 2025 Wednesday had the smallest crowd and Saturday drew the biggest, jump to Saturday.
Royal Ascot 2027 runs for five days, from Tuesday 15 June to Saturday 19 June, at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire. Ascot Racecourse has confirmed the dates. Ladies’ Day is Thursday 17 June, the third day of the meeting.
The Royal Procession comes along the track at 2pm every day, and seven races follow it. The racing changes from day to day, and so does the size of the crowd. Group 1 is the top level of flat racing, which is racing without jumps. Royal Ascot has eight Group 1 races across the five days.
- Tuesday 15 June, the opening dayIt has three Group 1 races, more than any other day.
- Wednesday 16 JuneThe Prince of Wales’s Stakes is the main race. In 2025 Wednesday had the smallest crowd of the week.
- Thursday 17 June, Ladies’ DayThe Gold Cup is the main race. It is the oldest surviving race at Ascot and the longest Group 1 of the week.
- Friday 18 JuneIts two Group 1 races are both for three-year-olds.
- Saturday 19 June, the final dayThe Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes is the main race. In 2025 Saturday had the biggest crowd of the week.
Ascot publishes race times a few months before each raceday, so the 2027 running order comes out nearer the time. The races named for each day below are the ones listed in Ascot’s race guide, and they match the days they were run on in 2026.
Tuesday 15 June: the opening day
Tuesday has three Group 1 races, more than any other day. The Queen Anne Stakes has opened the week since 2008. It is a mile race for horses aged four and over, and it is named after the queen who founded racing at Ascot in 1711.
The King Charles III Stakes is a sprint over five furlongs, which is five-eighths of a mile. It took the King’s name in 2024, after more than a century as the King’s Stand. The St James’s Palace Stakes is a mile race for three-year-old colts. A colt is a male horse under five years old that has not been castrated. The race was first run in 1834, and Frankel won it in 2011 and Kingman won it in 2014.
The Tuesday crowd was 45,551 in 2025, about 25,000 fewer than on the Saturday. Form is a horse’s record of past results. For a group that follows the form, Tuesday gives you the most top-level racing of the week in a single afternoon.
Wednesday 16 June: Prince of Wales’s Stakes day
Wednesday’s Group 1 is the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. It is run over a mile and a quarter for horses aged four and over. It was first run in 1862 and takes its name from Queen Victoria’s eldest son, who became Edward VII. It has been a Group 1 race since 2000.
The Royal Hunt Cup runs on the same afternoon, over the straight mile. It is a handicap, a race in which the better horses carry more weight to even out the field.
Wednesday had the smallest crowd of the week in 2025, at 41,571. It suits a group whose guests care more about the racing and the conversation than about the size of the crowd.
Thursday 17 June: Ladies’ Day and the Gold Cup
Thursday is Ladies’ Day, and its main race is the Gold Cup. In 2027 it falls on 17 June. It was the second-busiest day of the meeting in 2025, with 65,718 racegoers, behind only the Saturday.
Why Thursday is called Ladies’ Day
Ladies’ Day is a nickname, not an official title. Ascot’s own history calls Thursday Gold Cup Day, and it says the name Ladies’ Day seems to have been first used in 1823. That year an anonymous poet described the Thursday of the Royal Meeting as “Ladies’ Day… when the women, like angels, look sweetly divine.” The Royal Meeting is Ascot’s own name for the five days. The nickname has stayed with the Thursday for more than two hundred years.
The Gold Cup
The Gold Cup was first run in 1807, which makes it the oldest surviving race at Ascot. It is run over about two and a half miles for horses aged four and over. That makes it the longest of the week’s eight Group 1 races. Races over this kind of distance are called staying races, and the horses that win them are called stayers.
Its proper name is the Gold Cup, not the Ascot Gold Cup. The winning owners still receive a gold trophy, and it is theirs to keep.
The race has a history of horses coming back to win it again. Yeats won four Gold Cups in a row from 2006 to 2009, and Ascot unveiled a statue of him in the parade ring in 2011. The parade ring is where the horses are walked before each race. Stradivarius won three in a row and completed the run in 2020. In 2013 Estimate won the race for Queen Elizabeth II, the first time a reigning monarch had owned the winner. In 2026 Scandinavia beat Trawlerman, and the win gave the trainer Aidan O’Brien his 100th winner at Royal Ascot.
The rest of the Thursday card
Six more races run around the Gold Cup. The Ribblesdale Stakes is a Group 2 race for three-year-old fillies over a mile and a half. A filly is a female horse aged four or under. Ascot says the race mirrors the conditions of the Oaks at Epsom, which is also for three-year-old fillies over a mile and a half. The Hampton Court Stakes is a Group 3 race for three-year-olds over a mile and a quarter. Group 2 and Group 3 are the two levels below Group 1.
The Chesham Stakes is a Listed race, the level below Group 3, for two-year-olds over seven furlongs. Only horses whose fathers won over a mile and a quarter or further can run in it. Three handicaps complete the card. The Britannia Stakes is for three-year-old colts and geldings over the straight mile. A gelding is a male horse that has been castrated. The King George V Stakes is for three-year-olds over a mile and a half. The King and Queen won it with Desert Hero in 2023, and that was their first Royal Ascot winner. The Buckingham Palace Stakes is run over seven furlongs and closes the Thursday card.
How the day feels and what guests wear
The dress code is the same on Thursday as on every other day. Each enclosure at Royal Ascot has its own dress code, and it applies all week. What changes on Thursday is the attention on what people wear. The day’s nickname has been about how racegoers look since 1823, and it is the day many guests plan their outfit around. Our Royal Ascot dress code guide covers what to wear in each enclosure, for men and women.
Thursday suits a group that wants Ladies’ Day itself, with the Gold Cup at the centre of the afternoon.
Friday 18 June: two Group 1s for three-year-olds
Friday has two Group 1 races, and both are for three-year-olds. Racing calls this age group the Classic generation, because three-year-olds are the horses that run in the Classics, such as the Derby and the Guineas. The Commonwealth Cup is a sprint over six furlongs. It was first run in 2015.
The Coronation Stakes is a mile race for fillies. It was first run in 1840 to mark Queen Victoria’s coronation two years earlier. It often attracts the winners of the 1,000 Guineas, the spring Classic for fillies.
Friday drew 62,628 racegoers in 2025. It suits a group that wants two Group 1 races and a busy afternoon.
Saturday 19 June: the final day
Saturday’s Group 1 is the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. It is a sprint over six furlongs for horses aged four and over. It was first run in 1868 as the Cork and Orrery Stakes. It took its current name in 2023 in memory of Queen Elizabeth II, and Black Caviar and Blue Point are among its winners. The Hardwicke Stakes, the Wokingham Stakes and the Queen Alexandra Stakes also run on the Saturday.
Saturday was the busiest day of the meeting in 2025, with 71,073 racegoers. It suits a group that wants Royal Ascot at its busiest.
The Royal Procession, every day at 2pm
Every day of Royal Ascot begins at 2pm with the Royal Procession. The royal party arrives in horse-drawn open carriages, called landaus, and parades along the track in front of the racegoers. The first procession was in 1825, when George IV led four other coaches up the Straight Mile. The Straight Mile is the long straight stretch of the course that is used for races of up to a mile.
The procession happens on all five days, so you see it whichever day you choose. The Lawn Club is one of the places we book. It has a decked terrace over the home straight, which is the last stretch before the winning post, and guests watch the procession and the racing from there.
After the last race each day, racegoers gather round the bandstand for the traditional Royal Ascot singing.
Picking the right day for your group
For the most top-level racing
Tuesday has three Group 1 races.
For the racing with more room
Wednesday has the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and it had the smallest crowd in 2025.
For Ladies’ Day and the Gold Cup
Thursday 17 June is Ladies’ Day.
For the Classic generation
Friday has two Group 1 races for three-year-olds.
For the biggest crowd
Saturday drew 71,073 racegoers in 2025, the most of any day.
The day and the place you sit are two separate choices. Among the places we book, the Panoramic Restaurant is on the sixth floor of the Grandstand. It comes with admission to the Royal Enclosure, which has the strictest dress code at the meeting. The Restaurant in the Village is in the centre of the course, and our private boxes seat 10 to 14 guests.
Tell us the day you have in mind and the size of your group. Checking what is still open on that day, and matching it to your guests, is part of what we do.
Emma Harrod
Managing Director of Leicester Sales
Managing Director of Leicester Sales at Imperial Corporate Events. She gets to know what suits you, then makes the day happen without the fuss.
