Nowadays a Group 1 contest, worth £1 million in prize money, open to horses aged four years and upwards and run over a mile and quarter, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes is currrently scheduled as the fourth race of the second day of Royal Ascot. The race was established in 1862, in honour of Albert Edward, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, who was Prince of Wales from 1842 until his accession to the throne, as King Edward VII, in 1901.
The Prince of Wales’s Stakes was originally run over a mile and five furlongs and restricted to three-year-olds. It was discontinued in 1946, but reinstated, over its current distance, in 1968, ahead of the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) the following year. Following the creation of the European Pattern in 1971, the race was awarded Group 2 status, but promoted to Group 1 status in 2000, at which point three-year-olds were excluded.
The greatest trainer in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, John Porter, remains the most successful in the history of the Prince of Wales’ Stakes with eight winners and Herbert Mornington ‘Morny’ Cannon, who rode six of the Porter-trained octet, remains the most successful jockey. Of the current training ranks, Aidan O’Brien has fared best with five winners, namely Marmalade (2008), So You Think (2012), Highland Reel (2017), Love (2021) and Auguste Rodin (2024). In fact, Love and August Rodin were the only two winning favourites in the past decade, although five other winners in that period came from the top three in the betting.