Cambridgeshire Meeting 2010
The Rowley Mile will be the scene for three of the finest racedays of the year as Newmarket Racecourses stages its renowned Cambridgeshire Meeting from Thursday 30th September - Saturday 2nd October.
There are so many great races to look forward to on the Course Of Champions with a multitude of top horses competing for a victory that could define their career.
With three Group 1s - the highest class of race - and a further three Group 3 races, the quality of the meeting is exceptional.
Add in the stunning spectacle that is the totesport.com Cambridgeshire, one of British racing’s most famous handicaps, and two of the new-look Tattersalls Timeform Millions races, and you have the ingredients for three unbeatable days of sport at the Home of Racing.
And there's not just the racing to savour - you will also be able to enjoy some of the region's finest and tastiest produce as the East of England Festival of Food & Drink will be taking place at the Rowley Mile over these three days.
The fixture kicks off on Thursday 30th September when the racing highlight is the Group 3 Somerville Tattersall Stakes, a seven-furlong contest for two-year-olds. This race has been won by many fine horses, including Grand Lodge and Milk It Mick, who both went on to win the Darley Dewhurst Stakes.
The action cranks up a notch or three on Friday with two stunning Group 1 events, the Shadwell Middle Park Stakes and the Electrolux Cheveley Park Stakes. These races can identify British - and often European - racing’s best two-year-old colt and filly at the distance of six furlongs. A host of top class horses have emerged victorious in term in the last 20 years.
2007 saw Natagora (pictured above) speed to success in the Cheveley Park Stakes before returning to the Rowley Mile in spring 2008 to land the stanjames.com 1000 Guineas. Sayyedati was another to complete that magnificent double achievement in 1992-93.
Special Duty was successful for France in the 2009 Electrolux Cheveley Park Stakes in most impressive fashion and the flying filly must have a leading chance of matching Natagora and Sayyedati by landing the 2010 stanjames.com 1000 Guineas in May.
In the early 1990s the Shadwell Middle Park Stakes also provided a subsequent 2000 Guineas winner in the shape of Rodrigo de Triano. Other outstanding recent winners of the Middle Park Stakes include Bahamian Bounty, Royal Applause and Dutch Art.
Awzaan was successful in the 2009 Shadwell Middle Park Stakes, maintaining his unbeaten record with a fourth straight victory, and he could be destined for great things in 2010.
Adding to a fantastic day’s racing on Friday 1st October are the Sakhee Oh So Sharp Stakes and the Nayef Joel Stakes. Overall it is a card that will set the pulse soaring of every ardent follower of the Turf.
Saturday 2nd October will see the Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes take centre stage as the Group 1 feature. This mile-long contest showcases the talents of some of the finest fillies and mares in training.
In 2008 the French came agonisingly close to lifting the prize with the brilliant Darjina, but in 2009 they made no mistake with Saphresa defeating the stanjames.com 1000 Guineas herioine, Ghanaati, by a length and a half.
The totesport.com Cambridgeshire ranks as one of the best sights in racing with over 30 horses powering over a mile and a furlong as they seek to secure the spoils in the historic old race. 2007 saw a hugely popular result as Pipedreamer (pictured below) was returned the winning favourite, while in 2008 Tazeez made it two Cambridgeshires in a row for local trainer John Gosden.
In 2009 Supaseus made every yard of the running - a remarkable feat in itself - to win the totesport.com Cambridgeshire by the narrowest of margins, a nose, in the hands of Travis Block.
Two of the big Tattersalls Timeform Million races will also feature on the card once again - they are exclusively for horses that were catalogued in Book 1 of the 2009 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. They are guaranteed to attract large, fiercely competitive fields gunning for the huge prize money on offer.
What a meeting it promises to be! Make sure you're at the Rowley Mile to enjoy it!