Ormonde Stakes betting

You’ll get all the Ormonde Stakes betting fit to print at William Hill when old rivals lock horns at the oldest racecourse in England during Chester’s May Festival.

Having started life as a 5f dash for two-year-olds, the Ormonde Stakes was extended to 1m5f and opened up to horses aged three and older in 1936, before being cut back again in 1953 and confined to three-year-olds.

The 1m5f distance was restored five years later with the race restricted to entrants aged four and over, and older horses have certainly benefited from that decision in recent years.

Small fields were the norm, but the Group Three race has become somewhat more competitive of late, with recent runnings boasting up to nine challengers and rarely fewer than five, meaning more value in the William Hill Ormonde Stakes betting markets.

Ormonde Stakes betting - trainers to watch

Dartmouth gave leading Ormonde Stakes trainer Sir Michael Stoute his sixth victory in 2016, but - as with most big Group tussles these days - Aidan O’Brien is hot on the veteran’s heels.

Idaho’s 2018 triumph handed the Wexford native his first Ormonde Stakes victory since 2012, when Memphis Tennessee followed up St Nicholas Abbey’s success for O’Brien 12 months prior.

Five different trainers - including Stoute - shared the Ormonde Stakes spoils during Ballydoyle’s barren years, with all but one of the winners coming in at 7/2 odds or shorter.

John Gosden won this for the second time with Western Hymn in 2017, 12 years on from the Sussex trainer breaking his Ormonde Stakes duck courtesy of Day Flight.

Gosden’s Deuce Again managed a solid third at 8/1 two years earlier, and Muntahaa wasn’t far off second at the same odds in 2018, so keep an eye out for each-way value when he saddles an Ormonde Stakes betting hopeful.

Ormonde Stakes betting - jockeys to watch

It can only be a matter of time before Ryan Moore joins Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery at the summit of the Ormonde Stakes’ top jockey leaderboard, and not much longer until Ballydoyle’s number one horseman surpasses them.

Moore’s Ormonde Stakes success is hardly surprising given his association with the two most successful trainers in the race’s history, old gaffer Stoute and current boss O’Brien, and considering the Brighton-born rider’s relative youth, there’s surely much more to come.

Frankie Dettori finally got off the mark in the Ormonde Stakes with Western Hymn in 2017) more than 30 years after his first win on British shores) having failed to book a ride in the previous six runnings of the race.

Ormonde Stakes betting tips - Dual code trainers

National Hunt connections have had some success in this race over the years, with Willie Mullins’ remarkable 2015 Cheltenham Festival Vincent O’Brien Handicap Hurdle winner Wicklow Brave losing the 2016 Ormonde Stakes to Dartmouth by just a neck.

The previous year, jockey Graham Lee and trainer Peter Niven - neither of whom are strangers to jump racing - tasted Ormonde Stakes victory with Clever Cookie, a horse that had previously run six times over hurdles, winning three of those races.

Venetia Williams - who trained 100/1 no-hoper Mon Mome to Grand National glory in 2009 - won the Ormonde Stakes with Stretaretz in 1998, the same year she saddled Teeton Mill to Hennessy Gold Cup and King George VI Chase victories.

Ormonde Stakes betting trends to follow

Despite the lack of big-priced successes, the Ormonde Stakes had become something of a favourites’ graveyard prior to Idaho’s 8/11 triumph.

That being said, the vast majority of winners over the past decade or so have come from the top two in the betting, with the second favourite frequently proving the horse to be on.

With the Ormonde Stakes open to four-year-olds and over, there’s usually quite a bit of form in the book, and most recent winners tasted success at least three times prior to lining up for the May Festival Group Three.

However, only a small minority of recent Ormonde Stakes winners managed a win earlier in the campaign, with many making their seasonal reappearance in the North West.

Since the mid-1990s, the numbers point to a race dominated by four and five-year-olds, but older horses Mount Athos, Brown Panther, Clever Cookie and Western Hymn have pushed the age of average Ormonde Stakes winners closer to six in recent runnings.

Previous success in a Group race tends to be a good look, and a few prior runs over at least 12 furlongs is definitely an Ormonde Stakes betting plus.

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