Royal Ascot: King's Stand Stakes

The King's Stand Stakes was created as a result of bad weather at Royal Ascot in 1860. Heavy rain made it impossible to run the Royal Stand Plate over its usual distance of 2 miles, so it was shortened to 5 furlongs on the only raceable part of the course. The amended version was called the Queen's Stand Plate, and it subsequently became the most important sprint at the Royal meeting. For a time it was open to horses aged two or older. It was renamed the King's Stand Stakes following the death of Queen Victoria and the accession of King Edward VII in 1901. The present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and the King's Stand Stakes was given Group 1 status in 1973, although it was downgraded to Group 2 level in 1988, but regained its Group 1 status in 2008 and is contested on the opening day of the Royal meeting.
Early history:-The inaugural running of the Queen's Stand Plate for 300 sovereigns, on Tuesday 5th June 1860, saw a large field of superior quality headed by Baron Rothschild's Queen of the Vale (100/6) ridden by John Daley in a canter by 3 lengths from Brown Duchess (5/1), with two lengths back to Satellite (7/1) in third, and 14 others further adrift.

King's Stand Stakes 1999 Group 1 5 furlongs
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 MITCHAM T Quinn Terry Mills T G Mills 20/1
2 FLANDERS Lyndsey Charnock Tim Easterby Mrs Jean Connew 33/1
3 SAINTE MARINE Cash Asmussen Robert Collet R C Strauss 4/1 fav
4 LOCHANGEL Kieren Fallon Ian Balding Mr Jeff Smith 9/2
5 RAMBLING BEAR Ray Cochrane Michael Blanshard Mrs Michael Hill 12/1
6 TADEO Dean McKeown Brian Meehan J R Good 25/1
7 CORTACHY CASTLE Pat Eddery Brian Meehan Mrs E A Lerpiniere 33/1
8 LADY ALEXANDER P Shanahan Con Collins Mrs N O'Callaghan 20/1
9 INYA LAKE T Sprake Mick Channon Barry Minty 66/1
10 SHEER VIKING Michael Hills Barry Hills Hon R J Arculli 16/1
11 DEADLY NIGHTSHADE Dane O'Neill David Elsworth Mrs J Magnier/M Tabor 10/1
12 LUJAIN Frankie Dettori Saeed Bin Suroor Godolphin 5/1
13 BLUE MELODY Olivier Peslier John Gosden Sheikh Mohammed 33/1
14 TRINITY Kevin Darley Mel Brittain Miss Debi Woods 100/1
15 REPERTORY Jimmy Fortune Malcolm Saunders M S Saunders 40/1
16 ALMATY Gary Stevens William Muir J Bernstein 20/1
17 TEDBURROW Willie Supple Eric Alston Philip Davies 20/1
The King's Stand Stakes took place on Friday 18th June 1999 and the winner, a brown horse by Hamas out of Arab Scimitar won a first prize of £80,050, (equivalent to £142,000 in 2020). Over round 115%
King's Stand Stakes Group 1 5 furlongs 1860
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