Currently scheduled as the fourth race, and the third of three Group 1 races, on the opening day of Royal Ascot, the St. James’s Palace Stakes is run over a mile, open to three-year-old colts only and currently worth £650,000 in prize money. Consequently, it is often contested by horses that previously ran in the various colts’ Classic races, namely the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh and Poule d’Essai des Poulains.
Taking its name from St. James’s Palace, the former royal residence in the City of Westminster, London, the race was established in 1834, during the reign of William IV. Following the creation of the European Pattern in 1971, the St. James’s Palace Stakes was awarded Group 2 status, but promoted to its current Group 1 status in 1988.
County Tipperary trainer Aidan O’Brien is the leading trainer in the history of the St. James’s Palace Stakes with nine winners, the most recent of which was Paddington (2023), while his ertswhile stable jockey at Ballydoyle, Michael Kinane, remains the leading jockey with six winners. The last 10 runnings of the race have produced four winning favourites, but all the winners bar Circus Maximus (2019) came from the top three in the betting. It is also worth noting that John Gosden has saddled three of the last 10 winners, two in his own right, Without Parole (2018) and Palace Pier (2020), and one as a joint licence holder with his son, Thady, Fields Of Gold (2025).