Last year’s race Winner: Ain't Nobody Jockey: Jamie P Spencer Trainer: Kevin A Ryan Owner: J Blackburn & J Matthews Age: 2 Weight: 9st 5lbs Starting Price: 5/1 Season Form Figures: 1 Previous Best: 1st - Class 3 EBF Restricted Novice Stakes, Carlisle (May 2024) By Paul Jones This year’s edition will be the final running in its current guise as next season the Windsor Castle will be staged over 6f and restricted to two-year-olds whose sire won over 7f+ as a two-year-old or 1m+ aged three or older. So, this is the last chance for progeny of the likes of Blue Point and Havana Grey to name but two. This move will change the whole dynamic of the race as only around a quarter of last season’s field would have been eligible under what will be the new conditions in 2026. Onto the 2025 renewal and, being a Listed race, the Windsor Castle Stakes is the weakest two-year-old race of the meeting from a quality perspective, which contributes to why it is weak on trends. However, two of the last winners were Little Big Bear, who went on to become Champion Two-Year-Old, and Big Evs, who later in the season added The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. With up to 28 runners, the draw can be a hugely-significant factor and five of the last six winners were drawn no more than one position away from either rail (24 of 24, 20 of 20, 1 of 28, 2 of 24 and 27 of 28). Ardad also won from stall 1 in 2016. Given its current status, the Windsor Castle is seen as an opportunity for non-powerhouse outfits to have a shot of training a Royal Ascot winner but, prior to Mick Appleby and Kevin Ryan landing the last two runnings, it was Aidan O’Brien that took the previous renewal, in 2019 Ballydoyle beat Godolphin into second, the boys in blue saddled the 1-2 in 2017 and the three previous three winners emanated from the stables of Wesley Ward (who also recorded his first Royal Ascot win in this race in 2009), Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden! The changes to the conditions to be brought in next season should favour the powerhouse operations all the more. The Irish don’t attack this race with great vigour and Aidan O’Brien’s Washington D C was giving them their first win since 1980 in 2015. However, O’Brien also took the 2019 and 2022 runnings and supplied the 2023 runner-up as favourite. Very surprisingly, however, given his record with two-year-olds, this is a race that eluded Richard Hannon Snr during his long, distinguished career, so his son will be hoping to improve on that record and has had two placed runners. Mick Channon was successful with Great Deeds (1993), Kalindi (1999) and Holborn (2003), as well as twice filling the runner-up spot, so Jack Channon’s contenders should be noted, while Jamie Osborne has won with Irony (2001) and Drawnfromthepast (2007). Success for the well-fancied Ain’t Nobody last season, when fending off an American-trained rival in Gabaldon, was Kevin Ryan’s second following Hototo 12 years earlier. Nine of the last 19 winners started at double-figure odds; 100/1, 33/1, 22/1, 20/1 (x3), 16/1 (x2), 14/1 and 12/1, so it has also been the hardest two-year-old race of the meeting to solve and the tide has turned in a big way as far as the market being a guide is concerned as the previous 21 winners up until 2006 had started in the first six in the betting. Two of the last nine runners-up were also sent off at 100/1. Three winners since going back to 1995 were debutants. Fillies had a belting record in the mid-late 1990s winning all five runnings between 1996-2000 but they have been poorly represented of late, and it’s been the colts all the way since the turn of the century. Also, and in total contrast to the other two-year-old races at the meeting, don’t dismiss maidens, as they had won twice in the not-so-distant past before Southern Hills, Tactical and Big Evs got off the mark at the third or second (last two) time of asking, respectively, in three of the last five runnings. At a glance summary Positives Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Wesley Ward, Kevin Ryan or Jamie Osborne Drawn either very high or very low Don't be put off by big prices or overlook racecourse debutants Negatives Trained by Richard Hannon