Royal Ascot is the biggest meeting in the world, but with a course that is often regarded as the best around, you need a jockey that knows how to handle it.
The straight mile is loved by those in the saddle, but the sweeping turns of the round course mean you need somebody who can stay calm under pressure.
After all, Royal Ascot is a place for winners, so Luke Parkinson has taken a look at four jockeys to follow at the Royal meeting, plus a tasty 40/1 treble ahead of our Royal Ascot tips for the entire week.
If you’re talking cool, calm and collected, there a few better jockeys to fit that mould than Ryan Moore.
He may well be a man of few words, but when it comes to Royal Ascot, he very often lets his riding do the talking.
A final day double at Royal Ascot last year pipped Frankie Dettori to the leading jockey’s title at the meeting, an award that Moore has picked up eight times in the last nine seasons.
Likely to have plenty of leading hopefuls again thanks to his connections with Aidan O’Brien and Sir Michael Stoute, and will likely have his choice of Derby and Guineas’ winning horses from Ballydoyle, including Anthony Van Dyck in the King Edward VII Stakes on the Friday.
He’s also ridden more winners at Ascot in the last five years than any other jockey (42 wins from 220 rides) and currently operates with a 19% strike rate there.
Favourite-backers can rely on him too, boasting a 48% strike rate with odds-on shots at Ascot in the last 10 years.
Ascot and Frankie Dettori will always remain synonymous with each other after the Italian jockey famously rode all seven winners on the card in September 1996.
The flying dismount was certainly seen a few times that day and has reappeared plenty of times at the Royal meeting.
He has operated with a 20% strike rate at Ascot over the last five years and is +1.95 from a £1 level stake over that same period.
Frankie will have plenty of firepower from John Gosden, but also has a handy relationship with American trainer Wesley Ward which is worth watching out for.
Gosden is likely to provide most of his leading chances though, most notably Stradivarius in the Gold Cup.
Nobody rode more winners at Ascot last year than James Doyle. He grabbed 10 wins from 48 rides at the Royal track to put himself +3.40 from a £1 level stake at Ascot in 2018.
He’ll arrive at the big meeting in a vein of hot form as well, with a strike rate of 27% over the last fortnight, helped by victories at Goodwood, Chantilly and Epsom.
He’ll, of course, have plenty of chances on Godolphin horses but has a handy relationship with William Haggas, who has given him 6 winners from 36 rides so far this year and is likely to partner him up with the impressive Sea Of Class in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
At 23-years-old, Oisin Murphy may not be able to claim to the same levels of experience as Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori, but he can certainly match to their skill set and must surely find himself in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot.
He has his eyes set on being Champion Jockey this season and currently has a decent lead over both Daniel Tudhope and reigning champ Silvestre De Sousa.
He’s got more live chances at the Royal meeting, despite only having one winner at each of the last two Royal Ascots, and looks to have an especially strong hand in the two-year-old races.
Lambeth Walk and Exclusively, both trained by Archie Watson, are likely to to be towards the head of the market, while Joseph O’Brien’s Air Force Jet could be worth adding to your ITV tips for the big week.