Falmouth Stakes Betting

East England’s response to the Royal Ascot meeting in June is the Newmarket July Festival. It is a feast of top class racing and stunning fashions conducted over a three-day weekend in early July. One of its most anticipated races is the mile-long Falmouth Stakes on Day Two—Abu Dhabi Day—contested on the straight turf of the highly regarded Newmarket Racecourse.

This £zero,000 Group 1 flat race is open to Thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years and older. The younger runners carry eight stone ten pounds, while those of age four and up carry nine stone and five pounds. There are no allowances of any kind and no penalties applied for races won during the previous year.

The event was first established in 1911 and named in honour of Evelyn Boscawen, the 6th Viscount Falmouth. Her contributions to racing were great in the 19th century as a breeder as well as a leading racehorse owner. When the race was inaugurated, entry was restricted to three-year-old fillies, and that remained the case for more than six decades.

In 1971, the Falmouth Stakes received its official classification at the Group 3 level. Three years later, older fillies and mares were permitted to enter. When Child’s Bank took up sponsorship of the race in 1975, it was renamed the Child Stakes. Reclassification as a Group 2 race occurred in 1987, and when the sponsor withdrew in 1992, the event reverted to its original name.

The lack of a title sponsor seemed remedied in 1997, when Amcor offered support, but it did not last long. The Amcor Falmouth Stakes became the Greene King Falmouth Fillies’ Stakes in 1999, the sportingodds.com Falmouth Stakes in 2000, and it went unsponsored again for the 2001 and 2002 installments. In 2003, Stan James assumed the title spot, which lasted only one year.

Group 1 status was gained in 2004, and from then until 2006, the race was called the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation Falmouth Stakes. In 2007-08, it was the UAE Hydra Properties Falmouth Stakes, and since 2009 the event has been known as the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes. It is currently run on the same card as the Abu Dhabi Harwood International Arabian Racing Stakes, one of Great Britain’s most important races for Purebred Arabian horses.

Two runners have claimed double wins in the history of the Falmouth Stakes. Sonic Lady did it first in 1986-87, starting as a three-year-old, and then Soviet Song managed the back-to-back-trick in 2004-05 at ages four and five. The 2009 winner has proved to be quite a champion—Goldikova went on to win the Queen Anne Stakes and a third consecutive Breeder’s Cup Mile in 2010.

The leading jockey here with seven wins is Lester Piggott. He started with a victory on Sylphide in 1957 and followed it up with wins on Green Opal in 1960, Chrona in 1966, Vital Match in 1969, and Chalon in 1982. His last two triumphs came back-to-back in 1993-94 aboard Niche and Lemon Souffle, respectively.

No trainer has been able to best Alec Taylor, Jr., whose six victories came between 1914 and 1924. Richard Hannon came closest with four wins in the five runnings from 1991 to 1995, and Soviet Song’s trainer James Fanshawe pulled off the hat-trick with Macadamia winning in 2003.

Anyone looking for tips will hear that Johnny Murtagh is still the man to have in the saddle after winning three of four installments here from 2004 to 2007. Three-year-olds have crossed the finish line first in four of the most recent five editions, including the 2006 long shot Rajeem paying 50/1 odds and Ireland’s 10/1 Nahoodh winning in 2008. There is certainly good money to be made on the Falmouth Stakes with the right pick.

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