The Duke of Edinburgh Stakes is a flat Handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses of three-year-old and up. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.The race was previously known as the Bessborough Stakes and was named after John Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough who was Master of the Buckhounds on three occasions in the 19th century.