Lennox Stakes Tips & Betting Offers

Lennox Stakes Preview: Tips, Betting Offers and Odds

The big race at 3.00 on the opening day of Glorious Goodwood is the Qatar Lennox Stakes. Read on for the best odds, offers and betting tips.

This Group 2 contest was first run at Goodwood in the year 2000 over a trip of 7f and is open to all runners aged three and older. One of the top events of the year over this specialist distance, the contest now offers £300,000 in total prize money.

Lennox Stakes Tips and Betting Offers, 3:00 at Newmarket, 30 July 2019

The Lennox Stakes is one of the highlights of the first day of Glorious Goodwood. This 7 furlong contest is run at the Group 2 level and allows three-year-olds with plenty of scope for improvement to race against much more experienced rivals.

Older Horses Should Maintain Dominance

The very best three-year-olds in training tend to face their elders in Group 1 races at this stage of the season. It’s tough for those who haven’t quite made the grade at the top level against their own age group to secure good results when facing more experienced competitors which is one reason why three-year-old winners have struggled in the Lennox Stakes, especially in more recent years.

We have a few promising younger horses in the field for the 2019 renewal who will benefit from the 7 pound allowance they get from the older horses. However, it’s four and five-year-olds who dominate the top of the betting and so it does look big ask for the likes of Space Traveller, Never No More and Fox Champion.

Tate Can Land a Big Win

James Tate has been in charge of some very good horses during the course of his training career. Well respected as he may be by his peers, Tate has a long way to go before he’s held in the same regard as Sir Michael Stoute or Aidan O’Brien by racing fans. Those two train the two favourites for the 2019 Lennox Stakes – Zaaki and Le Brivido – but Tate has a real chance of getting the better of them thanks to Hey Gaman.

Tate tried Hey Gaman out in this race last year. He fell short of his billing as a three-year-old but should be much better with an extra year’s experience. He returned to action with victory in a Listed race at Leicester before winning the Group 3 Prix du Palais-Royal at Longchamp.

There was no disgrace in falling short of Romanised in the Minstrel Stakes. In fact, that performance showed he belongs at the Group 2 level, giving connections real hope about his chances at Goodwood.

Glorious Journey a Tempting Outsider

Many racing fans with a keen eye on breeding marked Glorious Journey out as a potential star miler before he made his racecourse debut. It hasn’t quite panned out that way for the four-year-old and Charlie Appleby is still trying to find his best distance.

He’s run twice over just 6 furlongs this season but arguably his best performance of 2019 came when finishing second to Limato over 7 furlongs at Newmarket. A return to that trip could bring the best out of him so Glorious Journey is worth consideration for an each way bet at 14/1 with Paddy Power.

Betting Predictions

Hey Gaman will likely need the performance of his career to get the better of the two favourites for the Lennox Stakes. The quality of his run under Frankie Dettori at the Curragh suggests that he is approaching the peak of his powers. Hey Gaman certainly looks like value to kick on from that race just 10 days before the Lennox Stakes by winning at 13/2 with Coral.

Previous Winners

2018 – Sir Dancealot – jockey Gerald Mosse, trainer David Elsworth
2017 – Breton Rock – jockey Andrea Atzeni, trainer David Simcock
2016 – Dutch Connection – jockey James McDonald trainer Charlie Hills
2015 – Toormore – jockey James Doyle, trainer Richard Hannon, Jr.
2014 – Es Que Love – jockey Adam Kirby, trainer Clive Cox
2013 – Garswood – jockey Ryan Moore, trainer Richard Fahey
2012 – Chachamaidee – jockey Tom Queally, trainer Sir Henry Cecil
2011 – Strong Suit – jockey Richard Hughes, trainer Richard Hannon, Sr.
2010 – Lord Shanakill – jockey Tom Queally, trainer Sir Henry Cecil
2009 – Finjaan – jockey Tadhg O’Shea, trainer Marcus Tregoning
2008 – Paco Boy – jockey Richard Hughes, trainer Richard Hannon, Sr.
2007 – Tariq – jockey Kerrin McEvoy, trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam
2006 – Iffraaj – jockey Frankie Dettori, trainer Saeed bin Suroor

Lennox Stakes History

The “Lennox” of this races title refers to Charles Gordon-Lennox, Duke of Richmond who is the owner of Goodwood Racecourse. Initially introduced as a Group 3 event, the contest was elevated to Group 2 level in 2003. Then in 2015 the race received a major boost in terms of its international appeal, with new sponsor’s Qatar doubling the prize money to £300,000.

The racing calendar features many Group contests run over both 6f and a mile, but relatively few at this intermediary trip. It is therefore likely to remain popular with connections of those “in between” horses, too slow for 6f but lacking the stamina for a mile.

Top Jockeys and Trainers

Despite only being inaugurated in the year 2000, a number of trainers and jockeys have already shown a particular liking for this race. Amongst the trainers, Marcus Tregoning, Gerard Butler, Saeed bin Suroor, Richard Hannon, Sr. and the late Sir Henry Cecil have all recorded two wins here. From those doing the steering, Eddie Ahern, Kerrin McEvoy, Richard Hughes and Tom Queally are the jockeys to have already taken this twice.

Open to all runners aged three and older it was pretty much honours even between the Classic generation and the older performers in the first 16 editions of the race, with 7 wins for the three year olds, four for the four year olds and five for the five year olds.

Looking at the equine talent to have prevailed here, the inaugural winner, Observatory set a useful benchmark to aim at, with the John Gosden runner subsequently going on to land the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

Richard Hannon, Sr.’s Paco Boy was the most talented performer amongst the early winners here. Having taken this prize in 2008, this son of Desert Style went on to record wins in the Queen Anne Stakes, Lockinge Stakes and Sandown Mile twice. Now retired to stud, Paco Boy has already produced a Classic winning colt in 2016 2000 Guineas winner, Galileo Gold.

Other notable winners include Nayyir, who as of 2016 was the only horse to win this race twice, having scored in 2002 and 2003. 2005 winner, Court Masterpiece, meanwhile confirmed his liking for this track in 2006 when landing Glorious Goodwood’s biggest race, the Sussex Stakes.