2025

Glorious Goodwood

admin November 13, 2025

Sponsored by Qatar Tourism and officially known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Glorious Goodwood is a five-day meeting staged at Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex, South East England in late July and early August. A fixture of the British sporting and social calendar since since the early nineteenth century, Glorious Goodwood features 13 Group races, including three Group 1 races, one on each of the first three days.

The feature race on day one is the Group 1 Goodwood Cup, run over two miles, open to horses aged three years and upwards and worth £500,000 in prize money. Since the race was shortened to its current distance in 1991, several horses have won more than once, but the most successful was Stradivarius, who recorded back-to-back victories in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

The highlight on day two and, indeed, the highlight of the week, is the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, run over a mile, open to horses aged three years and upwards and worth just over £1 million in prize money. The ‘Duel on the Downs’, as the race is often billed, represents the first opportunity for three-year-olds, of the Classic generation, to take on older horses over a mile at the highest level. Frankel, the highest-rated horse in history, recorded back-to-back victories in 2011 and 2012.

Day three, known as Ladies’ Day, features the Group 1 Nassau Stakes, run over a mile and a quarter, open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards and worth £600,000 in prize money. Further highlights on days four and five include the Group 2 Qatar Stakes, the Group 2 Celebration Mile and the major betting heat of the week, the Stewards’ Cup, a prestigious and valuable ‘Heritage Handicap’ with a safety limit of 28; horses ballotted out of the Stewards’ Cup are eligible for a consolation race, the Stewards’ Sprint, run the previous day.

Craven Meeting

admin November 13, 2025

Staged in a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in mid-April, the Craven Meeting is the opening fixture of the season at Newmarket Racecourse(s) in Suffolk, East Anglia. Consisting of a total of 21 races run on the older of the two courses at ‘Headquarters’, the Rowley Mile, the meeting takes its name from the Craven Stakes, a Group 3 contest run over a mile on the final day, which is a recognised trial for the first Classic of the season, the 2,000 Guineas, run over the same course and distance the following month. The Craven Stakes, in turn, is named after William Craven, Sixth Baron Craven, a one-time member of the Jockey Club.

The Craven Stakes was established, in its current guise, in 1878 and the first horse to complete the Craven Stakes/2,000 Guineas double was Scot Free in 1884. More recently, the likes of Dancing Brave (1986) and Doyoun (1988) have followed suit, but the last colt to win both races was Haafd, trained by the late Barry Hills, in 2004.

The eponymous Craven Stakes aside, the Craven Meeting four more Listed and Pattern races. In chronological order, they are the Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes, run over nine furlongs and open to horses aged four years and upwards, the Listed Feilden Stakes, run over the same distance, but open to three-year-olds only, the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes, run over seven furlongs and open to three-year-old fillies, and the Group 3 Abernant Stakes, run over six furlongs and open to horses aged three years and upwards. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, two fillies – Speciosa (2006) and Cachet (2022) – have completed the Nell Gwyn Stakes/1,000 Guineas double, while two more – Sky Lantern (2013) and Billesdon Brook (2018) – won the first fillies’ Classic after being beaten in the Nell Gwyn Stakes.

Chester May Festival

admin November 12, 2025

It should come as no surprise to learn that the May Festival is a three-day, midweek meeting staged at Chester Racecourse in Cheshire, North West England in early May. It is, in fact, the first meeting of the season on the ‘Roodeye’ and features some important trials for the Classic races – that is, the Oaks and the Derby – run at Epsom the following month.

The opening Wednesday, aptly titled ‘Trials Day’, features the Listed Cheshire Oaks, open to three-year-old fillies, and the Group 3 Chester Vase, open to three-year-old colts and geldings. In 2025, both races proved their worth as Classic trials, with the winners, Minnie Hauk and Lambourn, both trained by Aidan O’Brien, going on to win the Oaks and the Derby respectively.

The second day, titled ‘Ladies Day’, features another recognised Derby trial, the Listed Dee Stakes, albeit one that has failed to produce a Derby winner since Kris Kin, in 2003, while the older horses, aged four years and upwards, have a chance to shine in the Ormonde Stakes. The latter sometimes serves as a trial for the Coronation Cup at Epsom and has proved slightly more successful in that respect in recent years, with St. Nicholas Abbey, in 2011, the last horse to win both races in the same season.

Another prestigious and value race for older horses, the Group 2 Huxley Stakes, run over a mile and a quarter and worth £130,000 in prize money, is staged on the final Friday. ‘Chester Cup Day’, as it is titled, though, is all about the feature race, the Chester Cup, established in 1824, during the reign of King George and, nowadays, a valuable ‘Heritage Handicap’ worth over £170,000 in prize money. Run over an extended two and a quarter miles and open to horses aged four years and upwards, the Chester Cup has a safety limit of 17, but is so popular that it has spawned a consolation race, the Chester Plate, run later on the same day.

Cambridgeshire Meeting

admin November 12, 2025

One of the highlights of the autumn racing season, the Cambridgeshire Meeting is a three-day fixture staged on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in Suffolk, East Anglia in late September. The meeting takes it name from that of the Cambridgeshire Handicap, a prestigious and valuable ‘Heritage Handicap’ run over nine furlongs on the third and final day, known as ‘Cambridgeshire Saturday’.

Open to horses aged three years and upwards and currently worth £175,000 in prize money, the Cambridgeshire Handicap forms the first leg of the traditional ‘Autumn Double’, with the second leg, the Cesarewitch Handicap, also staged at Newmarket two weeks later. In the better part of two centuries, just three horses have won both races in the same season, the last of them being Plaisanterie, way back in 1885.

Ahead of the Cambridgeshire Handicap itself, Cambridgeshire Saturday also features two major two-year-old races, which inevitably have a bearing on the Classic races the following season. Both are run over six furlongs, but the first, the Cheveley Park Stakes, is open to two-year-old fillies, while the second, the Middle Park Stakes, is open to two-year-old colts. For the record, the 2025 winners, True Love and Wise Approach, are currently on offer at 18/1 and 33/1, respectively, for the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas back on the Rowley Mile in early May 2026.

There is no shortage of Group race action earlier in the meeting, either. Cambridgeshire Thursday features the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes, run over seven furlongs and open to two-year-old colts and geldings, while Cambridgeshire Friday features both the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes and the Group 2 Joel Stakes. The former is run over seven furlongs and open to two-year-old fillies, while the latter is run over a mile and open to horses aged three years and upwards, of both sexes.