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Let’s start at the beginning with the Cornwallis Stakes, which is open to horses aged 2 with a weight of 9 stone and 1 pound, though fillies get a 3 pound allowance, Group 1 and Group 2 race winners get a 5 pound penalty and Group 3 winners receive a penalty of 3 pounds. Run over 5 furlongs, this Group 3 race is sponsored by Newmarket Academy and was first run in 1946.

Back then it was run at Ascot over 6 furlongs, before being extended to a mile in 1988 and cut back to its current length in 1957. It was run in the early part of October until it was transferred to Newmarket as part of the jiggery-pokery done to create Future Champions Day in 2014. It has been a Group 3 race ever since the current grading for races was introduced in 1971.

Obviously the fact that it’s limited to 2-year-olds means that no horse has won it more than once, but Joe Mercer, Lester Piggott, Richard Kingscote and Martin Dwyer have all won it three times as jockeys. Two of Piggott’s wins came under the training of Noel Murless, who added another win in 1973 to make himself the race’s standout trainer.  Jonathan Portman joined that list in 2022 when he trained his third winner.

It might have a name reminiscent of a barbershop quartet, but the Oh So Sharp Stakes is serious business. Inaugurated in 1987 and named in honour of a horse that was trained at Newmarket and won the Fillies’ Triple Crown in 1985, it started life as a Conditions race before being Listed in 1993. It was then promoted to Group 3 in 2007, which is the classification it has maintained since.

Run over 7 furlongs, the horse is only for 2-year-old fillies with a weight of 9 stone. Group 1 and Group 2 race winners are given a penalty of 5 pounds, whilst Group 3 race winners take a 3 pound penalty. As with many other races in the Festival, the event hasn’t always been held in October and used to be part of the Cambridgeshire Meeting until it was moved in 2014. It became part of the Future Champions Festival the year after.

No jockey has won the race more times than the four victories that Richard Hills managed between 1994 and 2009, though the likes of Willie Carson, William Buick, Ryan Moore, Kieren Fallon and Jimmy Fortune have made a good go of it with two wins apiece. Similarly Saeed bin Suroor, Roger Varian, Richard Hannon Senior, John Dunlop and Henry Cecil, amongst others, have done well as trainers with more than one win but they can’t get close to the six wins of Sir Michael Stoute.

If the racing has already offered plenty of excitement then the Challenge Stakes allows things to go up a gear, being the first Group 2 race of the Festival and seeing horses aged 3 and over take to the turf. It’s run over 7 furlongs and has the following weight information for you to consider:

• 3-year-olds: 9 stone 1 pound
• 4-year-olds and over: 9 stone 3 pounds
• Fillies and mares are given a 3 pound allowance
• Group 1 race winners receive a 5 pound penalty
• Group 2 race winners revive a 3 pound penalty

The race is one of the oldest to feature in the Festival, having been established in 1878 as the First Great Challenge Stakes. Back then it was for horses aged 2 and up and was run over 6 furlongs. It was a Group 3 race when the current grading system came into effect in 1971, then it was made into a Group 2 offering in 1987. That came after the 1977 decision to extend it to 7 furlongs and the 1985 choice to make it for 2-year-olds only.

The Challenge Stakes was part of Champions Day until 2011 when it was moved to be one of the main races for the new Future Champions Day. At the time of writing a grand total of 11 horses have won the race twice, but none have done so three times. Those horses are:

• Energy
• Mephisto
• Kilcock
• Sonatura
• Chacornac
• Succour
• Hornet’s Beauty
• Phalaris
• Boldboy
• Moorestyle
• Limato

Lester Piggott has won the race more times than any other jockey with seven wins to his name, though it’s worth noting that Frankie Dettori is closing him down with every passing year. Some well-known names in the world of training have won this one, including Andrew Balding, Dick Hern and Henry Cecil. Even so, it’s Barry Hills that leads the way as a trainer thanks to six victories between 1987 and 2010. Four of those came courtesy of his son Michael.

The Fillies’ Mile is probably the standout race of the day, if for no other reason than it’s the only Group 1 offering. As its name suggests, it’s run over a mile and is limited to 2-year-old fillies. The weight is 9 stone and it takes place on the Rowley Mile. Established in 1973, it was originally based at Ascot and known as the Green Shield Stakes because of a sponsorship deal with the catalogue company of the same name. When they rebranded as Argos so did the race, becoming the Argos Star Fillies’ Mile.

The race became a Group 3 offering in 1975 and then three years later Hoover took over sponsorship duties. It was promoted to Group 2 in 1986 and then Group 1 four years after that. It got its first taste of life at Newmarket in 2005 when Ascot was closed for redevelopment, eventually moving to the course permanently in 2011 as part of the Cambridgeshire Meeting. It wasn’t moved Future Champions Day until 2014, when it and the Rockfel Stakes switches places in the racing calendar.

The race enjoyed a stint as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge between 2008 and 2012 when winners would be automatically welcome to take part in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf. As with so many other flat races around the country, the leading jockey is Frankie Dettori who has won it seven times to date spanning 21 years (1990-2021). Henry Cecil has managed six wins as a trainer, making him the best in the business for this event until John Gosden matched the feat in 2022 and Aidan O’Brien a year later in 2023.

One of Cecil’s wins was with Oh So Sharp, the horse that one of the other races over the weekend is named in honour of. This race has royal connections, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II having won it twice as an owner. Her first win came in 1973 with Escorial, whilst he second came eight years later when Height of Fashion won.

The Old Rowley Cup isn’t as noteworthy as many of the other races run during the course of the Festival, but it’s a Heritage Handicap and that means that it at least merits a mention. At the time of writing it’s only been run five times, so you can see why it’s not quite at the level of some of the other events over the weekend.

Run over 1 mile and 4 furlongs, the race is for horses aged 3. Given it’s a handicap, there’s no weight information to speak of and all of the decisions on that front are made by the handicapper according to the perceived ability of each participating horse.

Another Group 3 race, the Pride Stakes is for mares and fillies aged 3 and over. It’s run over 1 mile and 2 furlongs and was known as the Severals Stakes up until 2013. Run for the first time in 1998, it was a Listed race until it got its current status in 2019.

Confusion over this race is entirely fair, given that there was a for fillies and mares run at Ascot called the Princess Royal Stakes that was moved to Newmarket and renamed as the Pride Stakes, before it moved back to Ascot and was given the title of the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes prior to this race coming into existence.

Chain Of Daisies is the only horse to have won the race twice, doing so in 2015 and 2017. Neither race had Frankie Dettori on the back of Chain Of Daisies, which is surprising given the fact that he’s the leading jockey with 6 wins to his name. All but two of those wins came under the traineeship of Saeed bin Suroor, who also won with Albasharah in 2014 to make himself the leading trainer.  The other two were with John Gosden, who has trained a winner in this race three times to date.

The Zetland Stakes is also a Group 3 offering, limited to 2-year-olds and run on the Rowley Mile over 1 mile and 2 furlongs. It was a Listed race initial and was then downgraded to being a Conditions race in 2007 before it regained its Listed status eight years later.

Originally run as part of the final meeting on the Newmarket schedule, it was moved to be part of the Festival in 2015 and was given Group 3 status four years after that. The weight information for this one is as follows:

• Weight: 9 stone 2 pounds
• Fillies are given a 5 pound allowance
• Group 1 and Group 2 race winners receive a 5 pound penalty
• Group 3 race winners receive a 3 pound penalty
• Listed race winners receive a 2 pound penalty

Greville Starkey and Ryan Moore lead the way as jockeys with three wins apiece to date, whilst Mark Johnston is the man that has trained more winners than anyone else in this race. The likes of Jason Weaver and Richard Hughes as jockeys and Aidan O’Brien and Henry Cecil as trainers are also on the list of people who’ve won the race more than once.

In terms of what to look out for, Bob’s Return won the race in 1992 before winning the Great Voltigeur Stakes and the St Leger Stakes the year after. Coronet, meanwhile, was victorious in this race in 2016 and them the Ribblesdale Stakes the year after, the Middleton Stakes in 2018 and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in 2019.

A Group 3 race for horses aged 2 and with a weight of 9 stone and 1 pound, this race gives a 3 pound allowance to mares as well as a 5 pound penalty to Group 1 and Group 2 race winners or a 3 pound penalty to Group 3 race winners. It’s run over a mile on the Rowley Mile and first took place in 1987.

Back then it was run at Ascot and saw its first running abandoned because of water logging. It was a Listed race until 2003, at which point it was promoted to its current status. It got moved to Newmarket in 2011 as part of the new Future Champions Day fixture, shifting to be part of the Cesarewitch Handicap meeting in 2014. It was made part of the Future Champions Festival when the event was created in 2015.

Horses that do well in the Autumn Stakes can often be seen in the Racing Post Trophy, with Kingston Hill being an example of a horse to win both in 2013. Coroebus the 2021 winner went on to win the 2000 Guineas in 2022.

William Buick leads the way with four wins as a jockey, three of those wins came on the back of Charlie Appleby trained horses, who holds the trainer record with 5 wins to his name just ahead of John Dunlop with 4 wins.

Another Group 1 race, the Dewhurst Stakes was created by a close friend of Karl Person’s father called Thomas Gee. Run for the first time in 1875 when it was known as the Dewhurst Plate, it was named in honour of the Dewhurst Stud at Wadhurst that Gee owned. It got off to a notable start when the first four winners of the race all went on to win at least one of the Classics run in the following year.

It was run during the Champions Day meeting until it became part of the Future Champions Day even in 2011. It was made part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge in the same year, with race winners being invited to take part in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf but was removed in 2012.

The most prestigious race for juvenile horses in Britain, this is absolutely the race to watch if you want some information about the following season’s Classics. Churchill won this event in 2016, for example, before winning the 2,000 Guineas the following year.  Chaldean the 2022 winner also won the 2,000 Guineas the following year.  2023 winner City Of Troy won the Epsom Derby the following year.

The race is for 2-year-olds, excluding geldings, with a weight of 9 stone and 1 pound. Fillies get a 3 pound allowance. Lester Piggott loved the Dewhurst Stakes, winning it 10 times, which is more than any other jockey. John Porter and Frank Butters share the honour for trainers, though, with eight wins apiece.

The second noteworthy handicap race we need to tell you about, the Cesarewitch is open to horses aged 3 and over. The length of the race is partly why it’s open to older horses, given that it’s run over 2 miles and 2 furlongs and that requires maturity and stamina to handle. It’s run right-handed on an L and the fact it’s a handicapper means there’s no specific weight information to give you.

An anglicised version of Tsesarevich, which was the title of the person who was next in line for the Imperial Russian throne, the Cesarewitch was named after Tsesarevich Alexander in the wake of his donation of £300 to the Jockey Club. He later became Tsar Alexander II. The race was run for the first time in 1839, which was the same year that the Cambridgeshire Handicap was created. They soon became known as the Autumn Double.

Originally the Cambridgeshire was run after the Cesarewitch but this was eventually reversed. Three horses won both races in the 19th century but it’s a double that is rarely attempted nowadays. It was run during the Champions Day Meeting before becoming part of Future Champions Day in 2011 and then the Future Champions Festival in 2015, where it has remained since.

Aaim To Prosper is the only horse to have won the race twice, whilst Doug Smith has won it six times as a jockey. William Day and Mathew Dawson both stake claim to the title of most successful trainer, thanks to four wins apiece. Sergeant Cecil won this in 2005, the same year as the Ebor Handicap, then won the Doncaster Cup in 2006 and the Yorkshire Cup the year after that. Detroit City, meanwhile, won this in the same year as the Triumph Hurdle during the Cheltenham Festival.

A Listed race for mares and fillies aged 3 and up, the Boadicea Fillies’ Stakes is run over 6 furlongs. It’s not one of the most talked about races, but don’t tell that to Frankie Dettori who has won the race three times.

Jamie Spencer and Richard Hughes have both won the race twice. One of Hughes’ wins came on Honesty Fair, the only horse to have won it more than once to date.

Jeremy Glover trained Honesty Fair for both races, giving himself two wins as a trainer, but William Haggas leads the way with four.

The last race worth telling you about is also the last Group race of the Festival, namely the Darley Stakes. It’s open to horses aged 3 and over and lasts for 1 mis and 1 furlong, taking place on the Rowley Mile. The following weight information is at play:

• 3-year-olds: 8 stone 13 pounds
• 4-year-olds and over: 9 stone 3 pounds
• Fillies and mares get a 3 pound allowance
• Group 1 race winners are given a penalty of 7 pounds
• Group 2 race winners are given a penalty of 5 pounds
• Group 3 race winners are given a penalty of 3 pounds

Inaugurated in 1987, the Darley Stakes was abandoned in its first running because of structural damage caused by high winds. It was Listed initially but was upgraded to its current grading in 2003.

The race’s leading jockey is Richard Hills, who won it four times between 1997 and 2010, whilst Josh Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute are the leading trainers with three victories each.