How to watch Royal Ascot Gold Cup: live stream 2025 horse race online for FREE

The highlight of the 2025 Royal Ascot horse racing festival, the Gold Cup takes place on Thursday and is looking like one of the most wide open fields we've seen in years.

Read on and we'll show you how to watch Royal Ascot Gold Cup 2025 live streams from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for FREE.

The reason that no one clear favorite has emerged is that two-time winner and reigning champion Kyprios was put into retirement last month. His absence means that any of the eight pairs of runners and riders could legitimately meet the winning post first.

Irish five-year-old Illinois has led the early betting. In addition to his form, that may have something to do with the jockey set to ride him — Ryan Moore has stewarded four Ascot Gold Cup winners over the last 12 years. Trawlerman is also fancied to improve on last year's second place, potentially earning jockey William Buick a long awaited Gold Cup win. Candelari leads French hopes of a winner, with Sweet William another with short odds.

With the sun shining and the going expected to be good to firm, pundits are expecting a fast race over the two mile, three furlong and 210-yard course. Here's how to watch Gold Cup live streams and watch Royal Ascot 2025 horse racing online — starting with FREE options.

How to watch Royal Ascot Gold Cup 2025 for free

Thursday's Gold Cup — along with the rest of the 2025 Royal Ascot action — is on FREE-to-air TV and streamers in the U.K., Ireland and Australia, courtesy of ITVX (U.K.), Virgin Media Play (Ireland) and Racing.com (Australia).

But what if you're based in one of these countries but aren't at home to catch that free Gold Cup coverage? Maybe you're on holiday in another country and don't want to spend money on pay TV, when you'd usually be able to tune in free of charge at home?

Don't worry — you can watch it using a VPN instead. We'll show you how to do that below.

How to watch Ascot Gold Cup from anywhere

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching Royal Ascot Gold Cup live streams on your usual subscription?

You can still watch the race live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best on the market:

Exclusive deal

There's a good reason you've heard of NordVPN. We specialize in testing and reviewing VPN services and NordVPN is the one we rate best. It's outstanding at unblocking streaming services, it's fast and it has top-level security features too. With over 7,000 servers, across 115+ countries, and at a great price too, it's easy to recommend. For a limited time only, new subscribers in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada can also get up to $50 of Amazon vouchers.

Get up to 70% off NordVPN with this deal

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're away from the U.K. but want to view ITVX as usual, you'd select a U.K. server from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head over to ITVX and enjoy the race!

How to watch Ascot Gold Cup 2025 live streams in the U.S.

NBC's Peacock streaming service is providing complete coverage of Royal Ascot in the U.S. including Thursday's Gold Cup race.

Subscriptions to Peacock start from $7.99/month or $79.99/year.

If you're a British resident visiting the U.S. you can still watch your usual Royal Ascot Gold Cup stream by making use of NordVPN.

How to watch Royal Ascot Gold Cup 2025 live streams in the U.K.

The 2025 Ascot Gold Cup will be shown on ITV1 in the U.K. on TV, with live streaming available via the channel's ITVX streaming service.

That means all of the coverage is completely free-to-air. Just bear in mind that you'll need a valid U.K. TV licence to watch the action on TV or via online streaming.

If you're currently traveling overseas, don't worry, as you can use NordVPN to watch your usual service from abroad.

How to watch Ascot Gold Cup 2025 live streams in Australia

As explained above, Royal Ascot is being shown on the free Racing.com TV channel and Racing.com website — that includes the Gold Cup race in the early hours of Friday morning. Foxtel customers can also watch on Sky Thoroughbred Central.

If you're away from Australia right now and want to watch your usual coverage from back home, use a quality VPN like NordVPN.

Watch Royal Ascot Gold Cup 2025 live streams in Canada

The race will show on Sportsnet's SN1 channel in Canada. To live stream the Gold Cup and rest of the 2025 Royal Ascot festival you need Sportsnet Plus, which starts at CA$24.99/month or CA$199.99 per year.

If you're away from home and struggling to tap into your subscription, you could use a VPN to help you access an Ascot Gold Cup live stream from anywhere. We recommend NordVPN.

Thursday's Royal Ascot schedule

• 2:30 p.m. BST / 9:30 a.m. ET — Norfolk Stakes (Group 2)
• 3:05 p.m. BST / 10:05 a.m. ET — King George V Stakes (Handicap) (Class 2)
• 3:40 p.m. BST / 10:40 a.m. ET — Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2)
• 4:20 p.m. BST / 11:20 a.m. ET — The Gold Cup (Group 1)
• 5 p.m. BST / 12 p.m. ET — Britannia Stakes (Handicap) (Class 2)
• 5:35 p.m. BST / 12:35 p.m. ET — Hampton Court Stakes (Group 3)
• 6:10 p.m. BST / 1:10 p.m. ET — Buckingham Palace Stakes (Handicap) (Class 2)

Royal Ascot Gold Cup 2025 runners, riders and odds

Prices correct as of June, 19, 9:15 a.m.

1. Coltrane 50/1
   (Ryan Murphy)
2. Dubai Future 28/1
   (James McDonald)
3. Sweet William 15/2
   (Robert Havlin)
4. Trawlerman 15/8 (FAV)
   (William Buick)
5. Wonder Legend 40/1
   (Daniel Muscutt)
6. Yashin 66/1
   (Callum Shepherd)
7. Candelari 3/1
   (Mickael Barzalona)
8. Illinois 2/1 (FAV)
   (Ryan Moore)

More from Tom's Guide

• How to watch F1 live streams
• The best streaming devices
• How to watch cricket online with Sling