Currently scheduled as the opening race on the fourth day of Royal Ascot, the Albany Stakes is a Group 3 contest, run of six furlongs, restricted to two-year-old fillies and worth £125,000 in prize money. The race was inaugurated, as the Listed Henry Carnarvon Stakes, in 2002, in memory of Henry Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who had been racing manager to Queen Elizabeth II until the time of his death on September 11, 2001, aged 77. It was renamed to its current title the following year and promoted to Group 3 status in 2005.
Mick Channon, who officially handed over his licence to his son, Jack, at the end of the 2022 Flat season, still shares the accolade of leading trainer in the history of the Albany Stakes, having saddled Silca’s Gift (2003), Nijoom Dubai (2007) and Samitar (2011). More recently, Aidan O’Brien saddled Brave Anna (2016), Mediate (2022) and Fairy Godmother (2024) to join Channon at the head of affairs. Jamie Spencer, who rode La Chunga (2005), Nijoom Dubai (2007), Samitar (2011) and Kiyoshi (2013), is the leading jockey.
In the last decade, just two favourites have won the Albany Stakes, but five other winners were sent off at single-figure prices, three of them coming from the first three in the betting. However, winners at 20/1 and 16/1 (twice) in the same period suggest that the race is not always plain sailing from a punting perspective. Interestingly, all of the last 10 winners won on their previous start and three of the last four – Meditate (2022), Porta Fortuna (2023) and Fairy Godmother (2024) – won the Fillies Sprint Stakes, a Group 3 contest run over six furlongs at Naas in May. Likewise, the last five winners were all drawn in stall eight or lower, but previous five were all drawn in stall 13 or higher.