Flat racing fans who want to watch the live action from Royal Ascot (17-21 June) will need to tune into ITV or a free livestream. With over seven hours’ live footage on the main ITV channel, ITV Racing will be covering five races on each day of the five-day meeting, plus there are plenty of livestream options to choose from too.
Here’s our full TV guide so you don’t miss a moment of the action…
ITV and the ITVX streaming service will be showing all Royal Ascot races for free in the UK. If you’re abroad, and trying to watch ITVX like you normally would back in the UK, then you can use a VPN. Check out NordVPN, where you can get 72% off, plus a £50 Amazon gift card and a 30-day money back guarantee, and follow the instructions below.
Royal Ascot on TV: how to watch
ITV is the place for UK audiences to watch Royal Ascot, with most of the races from the meeting being streamed for free on ITVX. There is also an ITVX app that works on almost all smart devices. Just search for the app on any device, phone or console you have. You will also be able to watch on both the ITV and ITV4 channels on TV.
Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani will host the live TV coverage which runs from 1.30pm to 6pm each day from Tuesday 17 June to Saturday 21 June.
They will be joined by former jockey and expert Jason Weaver with Adele Mulrennan, plus many other top racing names during the meeting.
Oli Bell, Rishi Persad and Matt Chapman will be out and about on course daily, with Luke Harvey down at the starts. Brian Gleeson will be in the betting ring with Richard Hoiles and Mark Johnson commentating on the 35 races. Good Morning Britain’s Charlotte Hawkins and Lorraine’s Mark Heyes will be taking in all the colour and action around the famous enclosures. Brough Scott and Kevin Blake also join the team throughout the week.
The Opening Show will be presented by Oli Bell on all five days, and he will be joined across the week by Matt Chapman, Rishi Persad, Adele Mulrennan, Megan Nicholls and other guests. They will be out on track every morning with all the latest news and previewing all the day’s big races.
You can also watch the action live via the pay-for channel, Sky Sports Racing.
What time does Royal Ascot start?
The ITV Racing Royal Ascot coverage will show racing between 1.30pm and 6.30pm between the main ITV channel and ITV4.
ITV’s Morning Show will be shown between 9.30am and 10.30am each morning of the meeting.
The full 2025 Royal Ascot racecard is as follows.
Tuesday 17 June — Queen Anne Stakes, King Charles III Stakes and St. Jame’s Palace Stakes day
ITV4 – The Opening Show – 9.30-10.30am
ITV – live racing – 1.30-6pm
ITV4 – live racing – 5.50-6.30pm
Wednesday 18 June — Prince Of Wales’s Stakes day
ITV4 – The Opening Show – 9.30-10.30am
ITV4 – live racing – 1.30-6pm
ITV4 – live racing – 5.50-6.30pm
Thursday 19 June — Gold Cup day
ITV4 – The Opening Show – 9.30-10.30am
ITV – live racing – 1.30-6pm
ITV4 – live racing – 5.50-6.30pm
Friday 20 June — Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes day
ITV4 – The Opening Show – 9.30-10.30am
ITV – live racing – 1.30-6pm
ITV4 – live racing – 5.50-6.30pm
Saturday 21 June — Diamond Jubilee Stakes day
ITV4 – The Opening Show – 9.30-10.30am
ITV – live racing – 1.30-6pm
ITV4 – live racing – 5.50-6.30pm
How to watch Royal Ascot from anywhere
Not in the UK right now? You don’t have to miss out on any of the action from Royal Ascot. ITVX is geo-restricted, meaning it doesn’t usually work outside of the UK, but a VPN is a simple and safe way around this.
A Virtual Private Network will alter your device’s IP address to make it appear to be in a different country, allowing you to access your usual streaming services from anywhere in the world. It’s great for watching racing on the move, and it’s also handy even if you’re watching at home. VPNs are designed with internet security in mind, creating encrypted connections that keep your data safe from third parties and improve streaming speeds by preventing bandwidth ‘throttling’ from your internet service provider.
There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. We’d suggest using a paid-for service such as NordVPN, which is the best VPN in the world according to our colleagues at TechRadar.
Get 72% off and a £50 Amazon gift card with NordVPN
TechRadar love NordVPN’s ability to unblock streaming services, its compatibility, and its top-level security. It comes with a big discount in time for Royal Ascot and a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it 100% risk-free.
How do I bet at Royal Ascot?
Online betting companies will be clamouring for your custom during Royal Ascot so look out for some of their promotional deals for new customers which include everything from a free bet to giving your money back if your horse loses. You’ll need to deposit some money into your betting account, choose a race, select your horse (you could study the form, or you could simply pick your lucky number of favourite colour from the jockeys’ silks) and the type of bet — then get ready to cheer!
Get £10 in FREE bets
Want to place a bet at Royal Ascot? Sign up to Betway and receive a £10 welcome bet.
We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
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- Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
- Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad
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We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
Using a VPN is incredibly simple.
1. Download and install the VPN of your choice. NordVPN is the one we recommend.
2. Open up the VPN app and choose the location of the service you wish to access – UK for ITV.
3. Then head over to your streaming service on your device and enjoy the live stream.
Don’t miss the full report from Royal Ascot 2025 in the 26 June issue of Horse & Hound magazine, plus we will be bringing you all of the top stories from the meeting as and when they happen on horseandhound.co.uk
- To stay up to date with all the breaking news from major shows throughout 2025, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
