Inaugurated, in its current guise, as the Windsor Forest Stakes, in 2004, the Duke of Cambridge Stakes is a Group 2 contest run over a mile at Ascot and open to fillies and mares aged four years and upwards. Currently scheduled as the third race on the second day of Royal Ascot, it was renamed in 2013 in honour of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, now Prince of Wales. Restricted to fillies and mares officially rated 105 and upwards, the Duke of Cambridge Stakes features a penalty structure for previous winners at a similar or higher level, 3lb for Group 2 winners and 5lb for Group 1 winners.
Worth £225,000 in total prize money, the Duke of Cambridge Stakes has been won in three of the last five years by horses trained by John and Thady Gosden, namely Indie Angel (2021), Running Lion (2024) and Crimson Advocate (2025). In his own name, John Gosden also saddled Nannina (2007), Joviality (2012) and Nazeef (2020), making him the leading trainer in the history of the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes with six winners altogether. William Buick, who rode
Joviality (2012), Aljazzi (2018) and Saffron Beach (2022), is the leading jockey.
Trends-wise, at the time of writing, all bar one of the last 10 winners of the Duke of Cambridge Stakes were four-year-olds, the exception being Aljazzi, a five-year-old, in 2018. Eight of the last 10 winners were officially rated 105 or higher, but just three of them were sent off outright or joint favourite. Useful trials for the Duke of Cambridge Stakes including the Princess Elizabeth Stakes, a Group 3 contest run over an extended mile at Epsom on Derby Day, the previous season and the Dahlia Stakes, a Group 2 contest run over nine furlongs on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket on 1,000 Guineas Day.