Event of the Day: Royal Ascot Day 3
Our event of the day is the third day of the week-long Royal Ascot racing meeting. Held in the UK, it is the highlight of the flat racing season with the world’s best thoroughbreds on show. Today’s schedule includes four exciting group races and two handicaps. The feature race of the day is Ascot’s longest standing race, the historic Gold Cup. Largely considered to be the most prominent race for horses that specialize in running long distances, the Gold Cup was first held in 1807. The third day of Ascot is also known as Ladies’ Day. It is historically the most well attended day where high fashion is on display, royals and punters mix and place their hopeful bets. The day of racing opens with the Norfolk Stakes at 2:30pm. Keep an eye on the Wesley Ward trained Shang Shang Shang.
The next race is the Hampton Court Stakes at 3:05pm, followed by the Ribblesdale Stakes at 3:40pm. The fourth race of the day is the Gold Cup, which spans two-and-a-half miles. The favourite heading into the race appears to be 2016 winner and 2017 runner-up Order Of St.George. The Aidan O’Brien trained thoroughbred will face stiff competition from the John Gosden trained Stradivarius. Other horses that could challenge Order of St. George are Vazirabad and Desert Skyline. Ladies’ Day will conclude with two handicap races, the Britannia Stakes and King George V Stakes. With thousands of well dressed attendees flocking to Royal Ascot, the day will be filled with world class horse racing, high-end fashion and lots of money changing hands.
Honourable mentions around the globe go to the Football World Cup 2018 match between Argentina and Croatia at Nizhnij Novgorod Stadium in Russia. Argentina opened the tournament with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Iceland. They will look to redeem themselves by beating a strong Croatian squad, the early Group D leader. Other World Cup matches include France versus Peru and Denmark up against Australia. There are four County Championship Division One cricket matches being played as well as the fourth ODI between England and Australia at the Riverside Ground. In golf, the first round of the European Tour BMW International Open tees off at Gut Laerchenhof Golf Club in Germany. The opening round of the PGA Tour Travelers Championship gets started at TPC River Highlands. The Minnesota Twins host the Boston Red Sox in MLB action at Target Field in Minneapolis. In AFL, Essendon travel to Perth to take on the West Coast Eagles. ATP World Tour action continues with Day 4 of the Queen’s Club Championships in London and Day 4 of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. In Women’s Tennis, the Mallorca Open and Nature Valley Classic continue respectively. The 2018 Volvo Ocean Race Leg 11 begins in the Port of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!
Photos by Royal Ascot