The King Charles III Stakes, formerly the King’s Stand Stakes, is a Group 1 contest, open to horses aged three years and upwards and run over five furlongs at Ascot, where it is currently scheduled as the third race on the opening day of Royal Ascot in June. One of three Group 1 sprints run during the week – the others being the Commonwealth Cup and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes – the race was establlished, as the Queen’s Stand Plate, in 1860, when torrential rain rendered all bar the final five furlongs of the straight course unraceable.
Currently worth £650,000 in prize money, the King’s Stand Stakes, as it was at the time, was awarded Group 1 status in 1973, demoted to Group 2 status in 1988 and promoted to Group 1 status again in 2008. The race was renamed the King Charles III Stakes in 2023, following the coronation of the new monarch at Westminster Abbey the previous month.
Vincent O’Brien remains the leading trainer in the history of the King Charles III Stakes, with five winners between 1962 and 1987, and Lester Piggott the leading jockey with seven betweeb 1957 and 1985. More recently, the last 10 runnings of the race have produced just one winning favourite, although seven other winners in the past decade came from the first three in the betting. Interestingly, four of the last ten winners, including the last three, previously ran at Haydock, three in the Temple Stakes, over five furlongs, and one in the Sandy Lane Stakes, over six.