Royal Ascot 2021 Stats Guides: Queen Alexandra Stakes

The ‘Queen Alex’ remains the getting-out stakes ending the meeting and given its extreme distance for a flat race of 2m5½f, not all runners truly stay.

It used to be generally uncompetitive so therefore offered the punter a real chance of finishing the meeting on a high and fancied horses still usually come to the fore for the win and places with 24 of the last 30 winners starting at no bigger than 8/1. However, the quality has improved of late so the strongest recent trend that nine of the last 12 winners had been contesting races during the previous jumps season, might come under pressure.

As this is a Class 2 affair, it is not the classiest event at the Royal Meeting but what has been noticeable of late is that winners had been regularly contesting higher-quality races, in fact, 17 of the last 26 winners had been contesting Group and Listed races on the Flat at some point in their career.

The most two formidable jumps trainers in Ireland, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, alongside Andrew Balding and Mark Johnston have dominated the race of late winning eight runnings between them with two victories apiece up until Alan King’s Who Dares Wins gave him a third winner at last season’s Royal Ascot holding off The Grand Visir and they could meet again. The Grand Visir was second in the Chester Cup to Falcon Eight on his first run since contesting a novices' hurdle at Cheltenham in November and has run well in a Group 2 in France since.

The Willie Mullins-trained favourite has finished placed in four of the last six years (he also had the 40/1 runner-up in 2018), having won it in 2012 and 2014 so look out for his entries.

Gordon Elliott took this prize with the former Doncaster Cup winner, Pallasator, in 2018 and he returned last season at the age of ten to finish second. Elliott also took the prize with Commissioned in 2016 so watch out for any Cullentra Stables runners currently headed by Denise Foster.

Oriental Fox has won twice for Mark Johnston and it was the Andrew Balding-trained Cleonte who took the honours in 2019 so he was adding to the trainer’s victory in 2013 with Chiberta King. Honolulu (2008) remains Aidan O’Brien’s only winner.

Also bear in mind that 15 of the last 28 winners had finished in the top half-dozen in any of the three big staying races at the meeting before (Gold Cup, Ascot Stakes and Queen Alexandra Stakes).

Positives: Ran during the previous jumps season (notably in novice hurdles), trained by Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Andrew Balding or Mark Johnston, posted a top-six finish in the Gold Cup, Ascot Stakes or a previous renewal of this race, had contested Group or Listed races during their career.

Negatives: Likely to start at a double-figure price.