Racing Post Trophy Betting

The mile-long Racing Post Trophy is traditionally the final Group 1 event of the flat racing season in Britain. It takes place in late October as part of the two-day Racing Post Trophy Flat Meeting at Doncaster Racecourse, providing valuable indicators of what to expect in the next season’s classics.

The Racing Post Trophy is open only to two-year-old Thoroughbred fillies and colts, with geldings excluded. It is run on straight turf with no turns to confuse the youngsters. Each entrant carries nine stone even, with an allowance of three pounds for fillies.

When the event was first run in 1961, it was known as the Timeform Gold Cup in honor of race founder Phil Bull, the originator of Timeform. In 1965, The Observer took the title role, renaming it the Observer Gold Cup. It was classified as a Group 1 event right from the start, when the current system of race grading was introduced in 1971.

Beginning in 1976, bookmaker william hill assumed sponsorship and called the event the Futurity Stakes. But when the Racing Post became the sponsor in 1989, the present name was born and a full generation of race-goers has come to know it by no other title. Over the past two decades, the total prize purse for the Racing Post Trophy has doubled, from £100,000 to £zero,000.

Quite a few horses have distinguished themselves by winning this event and then going on to victory in the following year’s Epsom Derby. They include the 1986 champion Reference Point and 2001 winner High Chaparral, along with 2004’s victor Motivator and the most recent addition, Authorized, who succeeded here in 2006, when the race was conducted at Newbury.

Two jockeys share the honour of riding five winners here. Lester Piggott was the first, starting with Ribocco in 1966 and followed by noble Decree in 1972, Apalachee in 1973, Dunbeath in 1982 and Lanfranco in 1984. Then, Pat Eddery added five of his own aboard Sporting Yankee in 1976, Dactylographer in 1977, Beldale Flutter in 1980, Reference Point and finally Armiger in 1992.

There is one trainer, however, who has sent as many winners first to the finish line as both those riders combined. That’s Henry Cecil, whose ten victories began with Approval in 1969 and ended with back-to-back wins in 1992-93 with Armiger and King’s Theatre. During the years between, the Cecil-trained champions included Take Your Place in 1975, Hello Gorgeous in 1979, Dunbeath, Lanfranco, Reference Point, Be My Chief in 1989 and Peter Davies in 1990.

Among owners, the big winners have been Khalid Abdullah and Sue Magnier with four wins each. The Saudi Prince earned his with Alphabatim in 1983, Bakharoff in 1985, Armiger and then American Post in 2003. The Irish co-owner of Coolmore Stud got hers with Aristotle in 1999, High Chaparral in 2001, Brian Boru in 2002 and St Nicholas Abbey in 2009.

Apart from jockeys, trainers, and owners, a key factor to keep an eye on when handicapping horses for the Racing Post Trophy is form. In 2010, the favourite and ultimate winner Casamento had already proven to be a useful colt, making his debut with a victory at Tipperary in August. He then managed a runner-up outing in the seven-furlong Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh before claiming his second career victory at the mile-long Group 2 Beresford Stakes.

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