Queen’s birthday celebrated in Gold Cup title

The Queen pictured with her 2013 Gold Cup heroine, Estimate. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com.

This year’s Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, the second race in the Long Distance category of the QIPCO British Champions Series, will be run as The Gold Cup in Honour of The Queen’s 90th Birthday.

Johnny Weatherby, Her Majesty’s Representative at Ascot, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday in the race title of the Gold Cup.

“The Gold Cup, recently won of course by The Queen herself [with Estimate in 2013], is the historic centrepiece of Royal Ascot, and is very much the race which resonates most with the public.”

The Gold Cup in Honour of The Queen’s 90th Birthday will take place on the third day of the royal meeting, on June 16. The first race in the Long Distance category is the Betway Yorkshire Cup at York on May 13.

Of the 35 races run in the British Champions Series, eight are staged at Royal Ascot. This year, breeders of the winners at the meeting will receive a Royal Ascot-branded strawberry dish as a memento.