Dewhurst Stakes betting

The Dewhurst Stakes is a Group 1 race for two-year-olds over seven furlongs at Newmarket in October. The Dewhurst Stakes odds feature some of the top juveniles of the season and the result has a big impact on the following season’s 2000 Guineas betting.

Formerly part of Newmarket’s Champions Day, it become the feature race of the newly-created Future Champions Day in 2011. The list of star names that have won the Dewhurst Stakes before going on to Classic glory is astonishing.

Triple Crown winner Nijinsky (1969) and Derby winners Mill Reef (1970), The Minstrel (1976) and Generous (1990) all established themselves in this race. 2000 Guineas winners include El Gran Senor (1983), Rock of Gibraltar (2001) and Frankel (2010).

Dewhurst Stakes betting tips

Many Dewhurst Stakes winners won on their previous racecourse appearance. Almost all of them had raced within the previous month. Meanwhile, most Dewhurst winners already had winning form over seven furlongs, some of those in Group races.

Previous experience is a factor to consider with your Dewhurst Stakes tips. A very-high percentage of recent winners had raced at least three times prior to winning this race.

Only a small number had raced at Newmarket but the course is one of the fairest in the country. An official rating of 107 or higher has been the standard for recent winners.

French trainer Andre Fabre won the Dewhurst three times between 1992 and 1997. Zafonic was the first of his winners, a very popular Dewhurst Stakes bet when winning impressively by four lengths. He returned to Newmarket to win the 2000 Guineas and sired Xaar, the winner for Fabre in 1997.

His third victory came with Pennekamp who lowered the colours of Celtic Swing in the 2000 Guineas. There was plenty of debate about the colt’s ability to stay the Derby distance. Unfortunately he sustained a career-ending injury at Epsom.

Dewhurst Stakes betting trends

Favourites have a good recent record in the Dewhurst Stakes. Dawn Approach (2012) was virtually unopposed in the Dewhurst Stakes betting and returned the 30-100 favourite. Frankel (2010), War Command (2013), Air Force Blue (2015) and Churchill (2016) also won as odds-on favourites.

Aidan O’Brien won the race four times in five seasons between 2013 and 2017, the longest priced winner being US Navy Flag (2017) at 5-1.

However, O’Brien’s Beethoven in 2009 was the biggest shock in recent years when winning at 33-1 in 2009. He was having his tenth race of the season and wore a visor for the first time. Belardo (2014) also dented a few reputations when he won in first time blinkers for Roger Varian at 10-1.

Jim Bolger farmed this race with five winners between 2006 and 2012. Teofilo started the sequence but suffered a knee injury while being prepared for the 2000 Guineas and never raced again. He sired Parish Hall who won at 20-1 in 2011 for the same stable.

New Approach (2007) was beaten in the Guineas and Bolger declared that the Epsom Derby was not his intended target. A late change of plan and a flood of Derby bets saw his odds tumble before he scythed through the field to win at 5-1.

New Approach’s offspring includes 2012 winner Dawn Approach, winner of the 2000 Guineas but last in the Epsom Derby after refusing to settle. Bolger’s other winner during this golden spell was Intense Focus at 20-1 in 2008.

Dewhurst Stakes betting - ante-post pointers

Aidan O’Brien’s Air Force Blue and Churchill both won the National Stakes at the Curragh before winning the Dewhurst. The same race was also won by Jim Bolger’s Teofilo, New Approach and Dawn Approach.

Sir Percy won the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood in 2005, the same race won by Shamardal a year previously. Too Darn Hot won the Group 2 Champagne Stakes before winning the Dewhurst in 2018. US Navy Flag won the Middle Park Stakes over six furlongs before winning here a fortnight later.

Only Aidan O’Brien’s Beethoven and US Navy Flag raced again in the same season, both being well beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Around half of recent Dewhurst Stakes winners were not seen again until the 2000 Guineas.

Frankel won the Greenham Stakes at Newbury before his sensational 2000 Guineas victory in 2011. Intense Focus was second in the 2000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown and Parish Hall won the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh.

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Dewhurst Stakes history and memorable winners

The Dewhurst Stakes was first run in 1875 and the first four winners all won Classics. This incredible standard has been maintained throughout the history of the race.

Lester Piggott is the leading jockey in the history of the Dewhurst Stakes with ten winners. His first winner was Crepello in 1956 who won the 2000 Guineas and the Derby as a three-year-old.

In 1969 he rode Nijinsky to victory, the colt who would write his name in turf history by winning the Triple Crown in 1970. The Minstrel in 1976 was the third of Piggott’s Dewhurst winners to win the Derby.

Other star names to win the Dewhurst in the 1970’s include Grundy (1974) and Wollow (1975). Grundy won the Irish 2000 Guineas and the English and Irish Derby but is best remembered for his courageous win in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.

El Gran Senor was the subject of many Dewhurst Stakes bets before beating Rainbow Quest in a top class renewal in 1983. He won the 2000 Guineas in brilliant fashion but was beaten in the Epsom Derby by Secreto in a dramatic finish.

Rainbow Quest was beaten by Sagace in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1985 but was awarded the race when that horse was disqualified for interference.

Rock of Gibraltar was Aidan O’Brien’s first Dewhurst Stakes winner in 2001, part-owned by Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson. He won the 2000 Guineas, Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes to become European Horse of the Year in 2002.

Frankel was one of the hottest Dewhurst Stakes betting tips in history when he won on his fourth career start in 2010. He won comfortably, despite getting a bump leaving the stalls which lit him up early in the race. It was the first of ten Group 1 victories in an unbeaten 14-race career.

Dewhurst Stakes betting 2021

Aidan O’Brien has won the Dewhurst Stakes six times, four of those coming in the last six seasons. Rock of Gibraltar and Churchill both went on to Classic success in the 2000 Guineas and US Navy Flag won last year’s July Cup.

It would be no surprise to see a Ballydoyle representative at the head of the Dewhurst Stakes betting in 2021.

John Gosden won the Dewhurst for the first time in 2018 with Too Darn Hot and the powerful Newmarket stable have produced a string of Classic winners in recent seasons. You must go right back to Ajdal in 1986 to find Sir Michael Stoute’s solitary Dewhurst winner.

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