Royal Ascot Attendance Figures Up 4.8% On 2024, Marking The Five-Day Meeting a Big Success

With the dust now settling on the biggest UK flat horse racing meeting of the season, the Royal Ascot attendance 2025 was reported to be up 4.8% on 2024. Which is great news for the sport after the recent drop in crowds at the 2025 Epsom Derby.

Royal Ascot Attendance 2025 Celebrate 4.8% Increase On Last Year

The CEO of Ascot Racecourse, Felicity Barnard took to X to report the Royal Ascot attendance 2025 had been up a decent 4.8% on 2024.

She added the crowd figure of day five of the meeting (Saturday) was also up 2.6% on 2024. With 71,073 walking through the gates at the Berkshire track on the final afternoon.

While the overall attendance at Royal Ascot 2025 was 286,542 – up 4.8% on the 273,528 people that attended in 2024.

Barnard went on to quote “It was a fantastic week with some brilliant sport to enjoy. I think we’ve been a window for our sport and I’m absolutely thrilled.

“We welcomed more than 285,000 people across the site, nearly a five per cent increase on last year. I think we’ve worked really hard across the year to understand what people want when they come to a world-class event like this. The right pricing, the right product – and we’ve worked really hard at the experience.

“We want to make sure everyone has a great time, whether they’re here for the horses, the food or the fashion. It’s a wonderful eco-system and we’re already excited for next year.”

The news was also welcomed by the sport of horse racing as a whole after the recent Epsom Derby meeting reported a 17% drop in 2024 to 2025 attendance figures recently.

Plus they also stated the Epsom Derby Day attendance figures are down a massive 60% since 2001.

You can see the daily 2025 Royal Ascot attendance figures below. With all of the five day up from 2024.

Royal Ascot Attendance 2025: Daily Figures 

• Tuesday 17th June – 45,551 (43,791, 2024)
• Wednesday 18th June – 41,571 (40,163)
• Thursday 19th June – 65,718 (62,549)
• Friday 20th June – 62,628 (57,743)
• Saturday 21st June – 71,073 (69,291)

Why Was The 2025 Royal Ascot Attendance Up?

So, in contrast to the poor figures that Epsom showcased after the 2025 Derby, why are racegoers shunning the Surrey meeting and heading to Berkshire instead?

Weather 🌞

In Epsom’s defence this year’s Derby Day wasn’t the best day weather-wise.

With a poor forecast well documented in the days building up to the race and despite the Derby escaping the downpour – it came soon after.

Which would have surely put off many hundreds of people that make a decision on the day.

In contrast, Royal Ascot 2025 could not have asked for better weather. The meeting was basked in sunshine pretty much throughout, with temperatures in the late 20’s and early 30’s all week.

Yes, there was a small splattering of rain on the Saturday, but it didn’t last long – and in the heat, it was actually welcomed by many racegoers.

Royal Ascot Marketing 🪧

The track also did a great job with their pre-meeting marketing campaign.

There was a big presence in and around London well before the Royal Ascot dates on 17th-21st June that promoted the fixture.

With Ascot’s director of racing and public affairs Nick Smith further backing this up – saying targeted marketing had paid off.

Smith said “It was a fabulous week and we were up throughout the week. We work very hard on our pricing strategies and booking discounts.”

“This year we really focused on entry-level admissions and making it as affordable as possible to come. The Windsor enclosure, for as little as £25, and I think we boosted the atmosphere throughout the whole site by doing that. We were very lucky with the weather and hopefully we can build on this for next year.”

“It performed fantastically throughout the week. Every time a question of a draw bias seemingly emerged, it disappeared, and by the end of the week they were winning from everywhere on the straight course. On the round, you could win from the front or the back, and jockeys and trainers were happy with the ground all week.

“We also got really good feedback on the Group 2s from which we removed the early closing stage. Connections told us it helped to not have to make decisions too early.

“We were especially pleased to see the Jubilee Stakes run as a truly international race, with a brilliant French horse beating a brilliant Japanese horse. For them to put such a big distance back to the third. It was a really high-quality sprint and in Britain we’ve not seen an awful lot of those in recent years. So it was great to see such a high-quality race.”

Affordable Racing at Royal Ascot 💷

With it free to enter the middle of Epsom racetrack, then there is little wiggle room on defending their poor 2025 turnout.

However, although there are no free areas at Royal Ascot, they still tried to make some sections better value.

The Windsor enclosure was priced as low as £25.

These prices remain for next year for days one and two.

But are £30 on Ladies’ Day (Thursday), from £29 on the Friday and £30 again on the Saturday.

While the Queen Anne enclosure was priced at £75 in 2025.

ITV Racing Coverage 📺

Yes, you could argue the ITV Racing coverage might have helped keep people away from the track. With racing fans having the option to watch the races at home for free.

The ‘free-to-air’ channel, however, also do a great job at promoting the fixture – which is sure to have led to some people wanting to actually go.

They also showed EVERY Royal Ascot race each day – with the first six on the main ITV channel and the last season each day in ITV4.

They even got one of their presenters – Luke Harvey – to strip off on the Saturday and do a segment from a trackside swimming pool in his Speedos.

Which as attracted a lot of attention on social media.

You just CANNOT predict Luke Harvey's next move 😅

This was definitely NOT on our #RoyalAscot bingo card 🏊‍♂️🩲 pic.twitter.com/cUJF7pKUQJ

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 21, 2025

The Royal Ascot Racing Wasn’t Bad Either 

With top weather, great facilities, affordable pricing options and the marketing campaign over – it was now over to the actual racing.

And this delivered too.

Over the five days there were many highlights that are all summed up perfectly by Will Aitkenhead. Who is the Head Of Corporate and Industry Affairs at Ascot.

Including two track records – one of which came in the feature Ascot Gold Cup. When Trawlerman won for jockey William Buick.

Plus, 18 different jockeys riding Royal Ascot winners and Ryan Moore firing in seven successes and thanks to Ascot’s £5k per Moore winner pledge.

That Retraining Of Racehorses Charity benefited by a cool £35,000.

So, if the weather plays ball again in 2026, things are certainly looking rosy at Royal Ascot now.

They are probably already thinking 2026 can’t come soon enough.

Royal Ascot 2025

Attendance 286,541 – up 4.8% on 2024 ⬆️
585 runners (just two races without 8+ fields) 🐎
18 jockeys riding at least one winner 🥇
22 winning owners 🏆
21 trainers tasting success 🙌
Seven winners for Ryan Moore delivering £35k to RoR 👏
Two track records 🚀 pic.twitter.com/CJM5MqizTv

— Will Aitkenhead (@willaitkenhead) June 23, 2025