The Ribblesdale Stakes is named after Thomas Lister, Fourth Baron Ribblesdale, who was Master of the Buckhounds and, hence, Her Majesty’s Representative at Ascot, for three years during the reign of Queen Victoria. Originally run over a mile and open to three- and four-year-old colts and fillies, the Ribblesdale Stakes was inaugurated in 1919, but following the suspension of Royal Ascot for the duration of World War II, returned to the programme as a mile-and-a-half contest in 1948 and was restricted to three-year-old fillies two years later.
Nowadays a Group 2 contest, worth £250,000 in prize money, the Ribblesdale Stakes is currently scheduled as the third race on the third day of Royal Ascot. The race conditions mirror those of the the Oaks, run at Epsom in late May or early June, so the Ribblesdale Stakes sometimes features fillies that ran in second fillies’ Classic.
The recently-retired Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, the third-most-prolific jockey in the history of Royal Ascot, behind only Lester Piggott and Ryan Moore, remains the leading jockey in the history of the Ribblesdale Stakes with eight winners between 1995 and 2020. Aidan O’Brien, who has saddled six winners since 2014, including the last three in a row – all of which were ridden by the aforementioned Ryan Moore – is the leading trainer.
A little surprsingly, perhaps, just two favourites have won the Ribblesdale Stakes in the past decade, but four other winners were in the first three in the betting and only two winners were returned ar double-figure prices. Major trials for the Ribblesdale Stakes include the Cheshire Oaks at Chester and the Musidora Stakes at York, both in May, and the Naas Oaks Trial, in June. The 2025 winner, Garden Of Eden, also won at Naas, the 2025 runner-up, Serenity Prayer, finished second at York and the 2024 winner, Port Fairy, finished second at Chester.