- £168 million bet into World Pool across the five-day Royal meeting
- New biggest World Pool on a British race of £6.6 million on the Coronation Stakes
- World Pool returns to Ascot for the QIPCO King George Diamond Day on 23rd July
With £8.65 million in prize money on offer, the Royal meeting attracted horses from across the world and delivered spectacular sporting action for the 273,465 racegoers who attended, and the millions of racing fans enjoying around the world.
Gross Turnover for World Pool bets increased 35% on 2021’s figure of £123.9 million (£129 million referenced in 2021 included all pool bets placed on Royal Ascot, including those outside World Pool, such as the Placepot).
The three biggest pools of the week in 2022 were on the Coronation Stakes on Friday (£6.6 million), the Platinum Jubilee Stakes on Saturday (£6.4 million) and the Gold Cup on Thursday (£6.1 million). The Coronation Stakes now overtakes the Cazoo Derby as the biggest British World Pool race to date.
Exceptional Value for Tote customers at Royal Ascot
As a collaboration of global Totes, World Pool enables racing fans from all over the globe to bet into a single pool. This creates huge liquidity and excellent value for racing fans.
The Tote offered customers exceptional value across the 35 races at Royal Ascot:
- Tote+ Win beat SP in 25 of the 35 races (and matched on the remaining 10 races with Tote Guarantee in place online)
- Tote+ Win overround was 106% vs SP overround of 126%
- Tote+ Exacta beat forecast on 29 out of 35 races
- Tote+ Trifecta beat Tricast on 22 out of 30 races
£5,000 won by Racing Staff for World Pool “Moment of the Day” at Royal Ascot
At each World Pool event there is a “Moment of the Day” which will be awarded by an industry representative, with the moment decided by a standout performance. This could include a wide-margin winner; a winner from an unlikely position; an extraordinary turn of foot at any point in the race; an above expectation performance by an outsider; or a human or equine interest story.
Racing staff who look after the winning horse for each World Pool “Moment of the Day” receive £1,000 and a bottle of champagne. At Royal Ascot, the following members of Racing Staff won “World Pool Moment of the Day”:
- Tuesday: Sinead Earl, groom of Nature Strip, the Australian star who won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.
- Wednesday: Reg Todd, groom of Dark Shift, winner of the Royal Hunt Cup, who has worked for Charlie Hill for over 30 years. This was his first time leading up a Royal Ascot winner.
- Thursday: Ollie Turner, groom and work rider of Claymore who won the Hampton Court Stakes. He’s travelling Head Lad for Jane Chapple-Hyam.
- Friday: Naseem Khan, groom of Latin Lover who gave Harry Eustace his first Royal Ascot winner in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes.
- Saturday: Liisi Hallik, groom of Holloway Boy who won the Chesham Stakes at a big price for Karl Burke on his racecourse debut.
Global collaboration continues to grow World Pool
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “Royal Ascot once again produced exceptional racing which was reflected in numerous World Pool turnover records. It is clear that international racing fans have embraced the quality and depth of fields across the five days. On the occasion of Guy Henderson’s final Royal meeting as Chief Executive of Ascot Racecourse, I would like to pay tribute to his leadership over the past eight years, and in particular his work to help launch and develop World Pool with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and UK Tote back in 2019. Together we have successfully demonstrated the benefits of international cooperation and commingling with increasing buy-in from major stakeholders. This has resulted in improvements to planning and programming right across the 2022 World Pool schedule with a more attractive wagering product resulting in higher returns to the UK racing industry.”
Guy Henderson, Chief Executive at Ascot Racecourse, said: “It has been another hugely successful week for World Pool at Royal Ascot and we are thrilled with the level of turnover both on course as we welcomed back a full scale crowd and remotely. I must say a huge thank you to all our colleagues at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the UK Tote for their continued hard work in ensuring that everything runs smoothly through the week. In my time at Ascot, the World Pool has been one of the most innovative initiatives we have been involved in and these new partnerships have proved hugely beneficial to racing at Ascot and the wider industry."
Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote Group, said: “We’re excited that in its fourth year at Royal Ascot World Pool continues to prove increasingly popular with our customers. The huge pools, combined with our Tote Guarantee and extra 10% available online with Tote+, has ensured the Tote has provided exceptional value across the week in the Win and Exotic markets. After significant work with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, where we took on board extensive customer feedback, racing fans in the UK and Ireland are betting into a Win market with an average overround of 106% compared to 126% with the industry Starting Price, making it clear that anyone looking for value should be betting with the Tote and adding to World Pool’s momentum. I would like to thank Guy Henderson for his exceptional work during his time at Chief Executive and we look forward to continuing to work with the whole Ascot team, including incoming Chief Executive Vivien Currie, as World Pool continues to grow across racecourses in the UK and Ireland.”
Please visit https://worldpool.hkjc.com/ for full details about World Pool and follow @WorldPool on Twitter for all the latest news.
