Stewards Cup – The Trends

The Stewards Cup is a Class 2 Heritage Handicap and is one of the feature races on Saturday, the fifth and final day of this year’s Glorious Goodwood meeting. Run over 6f, the Stewards Cup is one of the most competitive handicap races of the year and this year’s renewal is no exception with a number of top class sprinters lining up. Richard Hughes is the most successful jockey in the race having won the Stewards Cup on four occasions including on last year’s winner Intrinsic. This year he rides Ninjago for trainer Richard Hannon and this will be one of his last rides of an illustrious career as he retires following the Glorious Goodwood meeting. 

A number of the horses entered in the Stewards Cup have faced each other already this summer in races such as the Wokingham and Kings Stand at Royal Ascot and the Darley July Cup at Newmarket. With 28 declared runners the Stewards Cup is one of the trickiest races of the flat season to select the winner in.

Key Trends

Some key trends have appeared in the Stewards Cup over the last 10 years and are worth focussing on:

• 10 out of the last 10 winners had previously won over 6f
• 8 out of the last 10 winners ran in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot 
• 9 out of the last 10 winners had won at class 2 or higher
• 10 out of the last 10 winners ran in a class 2 or better last time out
• 8 out of the last 10 winners were drawn 10 to 19
• 8 out of the last 10 winners came from first 6 in the betting

The majority of the field have won over 6f with the only exceptions being Ajjaadd and Firm Decisions. Off the remainder, 12 ran in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and from these 12, 8 have won at class 2 level or above, with Dinkum Diamond and Rivellino winning at Listed level in their careers. Off these 8, all ran in a class 2 races last time out with the exception of Lancelot Du Lac who ran in the Group 1 Darley July Cup, finishing 8th of 14 runners. Three of the remaining eight have received a draw between 10 and 19, with Tatlisu being drawn 16, Dinkum Diamond drawn 17, and Algar Lad drawn 19. Off these three only one falls into the trend of being in the first 6 of the betting – Tatlisu. The Richard Fahey five-year-old went of joint second favourite for the Wokingham but ran no sort of race under Ryan Moore and was eased home at the rear of the field. He than ran second in the Scottish Stewards Cup at Hamilton showing a return to form and the trends point to Tatlisu running a big race in Saturday’s Stewards Cup.