The Stewards’ Cup had its inaugural running in 1840 over a sprint distance of six furlongs. The contest has now become the feature race on the concluding Saturday of the Glorious Goodwood Festival and always attracts a large and competitive field.
The race has been won by top sprinters down the years like Lochsong in 1992 who carried just 8 stone to victory, and she went on to be successful at Group 1 level too.
The quality of winner has been significant in the last ten years with seven of the last eight officially rated between 102 and 111. Last year's winner Gifted Master clocked the fastest winning time over the past 30+ years.
Trends & Statistics:
Effect Of The Draw
A mixed bag really with six winners coming from the middle to high numbers and four winners from low to middle. Over the last five years these have been the successful stalls numbers.
- 2018: 25, 7, 10 & 4
- 2017: 15, 12, 7 & 8
- 2016: 4, 12, 20 & 26
- 2015: 1, 10, 26 & 17
- 2014: 22, 15, 19 & 8
Here is a brief summary of what happened at the live draw ceremony as the stall choices that the trainers make are highly significant I feel.
The first horse drawn was the Karl Burke-trained True Mason and the trainer picked the middle stall (14) for the three-year-old.
True Mason will be having his first run here since wind surgery after finishing last of the four runners in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock in May.
The Roger Varian-trained Flavius Titus is current market favourite and connections chose stall 11 for the four-year-old. Flavius Titus has won two of his three starts this year, including last time out at Newmarket.
The last horse drawn was Andrew Balding’s Stone Of Destiny and he was left with stall 27.
Richard Fahey is attempting to win the contest for the second time following Superior Premium in 1998. His quartet of runners took the following berths: Cosmic Law (stall 22), Growl (stall 4), George Bowen (stall 25) and Aljady (stall 28).
Fahey said of his foursome: "I'm very happy with the draw for all of my horses. Cosmic Law has been in good form this year and he remains open to further progression.
"Growl is so consistent in these big handicaps and will hopefully run well.
"George Bowen has a good draw. He needs to bounce back to form, but hopefully he can do so and this race could suit him, whilst Aljady has possibilities too."
Key Stewards' Cup Trends:
- 10/10 ran between 1 and 4 times in the previous 90 days.
- 10/10 previously won at least twice at six furlongs.
- 10/10 were returned 25/1 or shorter.
- 10/10 best previous win was in Group 3, Listed or Class 2 company.
- 10/10 had previously won at least one handicap.
- 10/10 were officially rated between 95-104.
Stewards' Cup: Age
Four-year-old's have provided the most wins with three and seven placed from sixty four runners whilst three-year-old's also have a decent record with two wins and a place from just twenty runners.
Stewards' Cup: Weight
Two top weights have won whilst seven out of the last ten winners were officially rated six to eight lbs higher than their last win.
Stewards' Cup: Price
Fancied runners with various betting sites have done well in the past ten years, with five winners coming from the top three in the betting. In that time there has also been two winning favourites and one joint favourite that have obliged.
Stewards' Cup: Form
Nine out of the last ten winners had finished in the first three within their previous three starts.
Stewards' Cup: Distance
All ten winners had previously won over at least six furlongs.
Stewards' Cup: Course Form
Not a significant factor really. There have been just two winners and one placed from thirty three runners having previously won over course and distance in the past ten years.
Stewards' Cup: Jockeys
Frankie Dettori has enjoyed a good run of success having ridden two of the last four winners. Dettori was on one of the two successful favourites in the past ten years. This year he rides Arecibo for David O’Meara.
Stewards' Cup: Trainers
Sprint specialist Robert Cowell has saddled a winner and two places from eight runners in recent times and on this occasion he sends out Raucous to do battle under Cieren Fallon Jnr.
Despite sending twenty four Stewards Cup runners down south, Richard Fahey has managed just five placed horses in the last ten years which is a worrying statistic for his ardent followers.
Stewards' Cup: Contenders
The David O’Meara-trained Gulliver (nap) often travels well into his races late in the day and can give punters a decent run for their money at around 16/1 in the horse racing betting.
Owned by Withernsea Thoroughbred Limited, the five-year-old swerved a tilt at the Wokingham with O’Meara preferring to send the gelding to Windsor and Ripon, where he lumped large weights into the places on both occasions.
Gulliver was successful at York at the end June, beating several of his Saturday rivals, and he is still 7lbs short of his career-high rating from last year which gives his followers cause for optimism in this feature race.
Of the longer priced runners, the Keith Dalgleish-trained Soldier’s Minute (nb) (22/1) ticks one or two boxes and has landed a plum draw in stall 20- just what his connections had hoped for.
The four-year-old will be well suited by the quick surface and if he can reproduce anything like the demolition job he performed at York in the Infinity Tyres Handicap, he could easily outrun his odds for his in-form trainer.
Assuming they all go off 25/1 or less, the following three horses all fit the ten year trends highlighted in the articleabove: Soldier’s Minute (stall 20), Baron Bolt (stall 10) and Flavius Titus (stall 11).
In a big handicap of this nature it can often pay to side with more than one runner, but if you had to press me for two final Glorious Goodwood 2019 tips this week it would have to be Gulliver and Soldier’s Minute each-way.
888sport suggests: Gulliver & Soldier’s Minute (e/w).
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
