Darley Stakes Betting

Beginning in 2011, a new fixture has been added to the Newmarket Racecourse calendar—The Dubai Future Champions Day. Scheduled in early October, it takes place a full week earlier than the old Champions Day meeting. It has also been extended to cover two full days of racing, owing to an influx of graded races transferring from Ascot to make room for the new £3 million QIPCO British Champions Day.

Because of these changes, the ever-popular Group 3 Darley Stakes has shifted from a Saturday to a Friday, the first day of the new meeting. It will be joined on the card by the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes, a five-furlong sprint that had been run at Ascot’s Autumn Meeting since 1946.

The £65,000 Darley Stakes is conducted over a distance of one mile and one furlong on the straight turf of the renowned Rowley Mile at the Newmarket Racecourse. It is open to Thoroughbreds aged three years and upwards. Each of the youngest runners carries a weight of eight stone thirteen pounds, while the four-year-olds and older horses must bear nine-stone-three.

An allowance of three pounds is granted to fillies and mares. There are also penalties for previous winners of events since 28th February, amounting to eight pounds for Group 1 winners, six pounds for Group 2 winners and four pounds for Group 3 winners.

The first scheduled running of the Darley Stakes had to be abandoned in 1987 due to high winds and structural damage. In 1988, Baring International began a decade-long period as the event’s sponsor and the inaugural Listed-level race was won by the favorite, Media Starguest trained by Luca Cumani. It was not until 1998 that a new sponsor was needed and Egerton Stud stepped forward.

From 2001 to 2003, there was no sponsorship other than Newmarket itself. That’s when the status of the Darley Stakes was raised to Group 3. In 2004, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London took on the title role, followed by Lexus and Unicorn Asset Management. In 2007~08, Georgia House Stud was the sponsor, and then in 2009 came Thurlow Nunn Standen, who have retained the title role ever since.

Although no horse has ever succeeded in the Darley Stakes more than once, many winners here have gone on to additional success. For example, the 1998 winner Haami went on to claim the 1999 Group 3 Desmond Stakes and the following year’s winner Indian Lodge taking the 2000 Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes. Some horses use this as a graceful finale to a brilliant career, such as the 2007 winner Windsor Knot, ending an 11-race span with four wins, three seconds and two thirds.

With four wins here, Richard Hills leads all other jockeys. He got his first victory aboard Fahris in 1997 before winning with Haami. His third triumph came in 2000 in the saddle with Albarahin, and then he returned for another win in 2010 atop Tazeez. The closest rivals to Hills are Ray Cochrane, Frankie Dettori, Richard Hughes, Pat Eddery and Ryan Moore, all with two wins apiece.

By contrast, three trainers share the top of the leaderboard at the Darley Stakes with a pair of victories each. Cumani added Princess Accord in 1989 as his second. Sir Michael Stoute’s couple came from Desert Shot in 1994 and Stage Gift in 2006. Most recently, Haami’s trainer John Dunlop joined them with Right Wing in 2001.

Despite plenty of history to go on, bookmakers have had a difficult time predicting winners at the Darley Stakes since the turn of the new millennium. They picked Albarahin correctly at 6/4, but since then their only true forecast has been the 2004 joint favourite Autumn Glory paying 9/2.

In 2002, the oddsmakers missed out when Golden Silca delivered at 16/1, and then they failed again in 2005 by ignoring Enforcer at 12/1. But their worst error in judgment came in 2008, when an Irish bay gelding named Charlie Farnsbarns left thirteen other starters in a lurch and ran all the way to the finish post for a victory at 50/1 odds.

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