Middle Park Stakes Tips and Free Bets

Middle Park Stakes Preview: Tips, Betting Offers and Odds

One of the real highlights of Newmarket’s three day Cambridgeshire meeting is the Middle Park Stakes for the juveniles. Here we take a look at the race in more detail and offer up our betting tips for one of the top two year old 6f contests of the year.

This Group 1 event was first run at Newmarket way, way back in 1866. Now restricted to two year old colts, the contest offers £180,000 in total prize money. This year’s renewal looks as good as ever and we’ve got two great betting tips to help you enjoy it even more!

Note we’ve also got Cheveley Park Stakes tips and Cambridgeshire betting offers too as we preview two of the other big races at Newmarket this weekend.

Middle Park Stakes 2019 Race Preview and Betting Tips

The Middle Park Stakes is a top level race for juvenile colts. This 6 furlong race is a Group 1 and as such there’s always a real buzz about the horse who wins it. There was enough of a buzz about Ten Sovereigns and Shalaa before their wins in this race that they both went off as odds on favourites but the market is much more open this time around.

All Eyes on the Previous Race

There is a good chance we will see a significant move in the odds in the half an hour before the start of the Middle Park Stakes. That will all be dependent on the performance of Raffle Prize in the previous race. If she wins, the form of Earthlight will be seriously franked. Andre Fabre’s colt just about got the better of Raffle Prize last time out in the Prix Morny and if she wins the Cheveley Park Stakes then Earthlight’s price will come in considerably.

Earthlight is potentially something special but is just one of three unbeaten colts in the field for the Middle Park Stakes. Mums Tipple is one of those. He caught the eye on debut but it was his second win that was most impressive when he pulled away to win handsomely at York last time out.

As impressive as Mums Tipple’s win was under a penalty, this is a very different level and he may well find Siskin too good. He’s already won at this level in the Phoenix Stakes, a win that marked him out as a horse of the highest potential. Siskin’s win at the Curragh was his third in total and came on soft ground which is far from ideal for him. He should be even better on a firmer footing and is the value bet in a very strong field.

Threat is a Genuine Danger

The depth of this field is made even clearer when you see Threat available at massive odds of 12/1 with bet365. It is very interesting that Richard Hannon is reverting Threat to 6 furlongs after his charge won a fairly strong renewal of the Group 2 Champagne Stakes over 7 furlongs.

Threat showed slight signs of being under pressure when he veered to the right at Doncaster but it was his ability to quicken was the main take away from that performance. Whilst connections are delighted with the signs that he’ll be very happy running over a mile (watch out for him as a potential Guineas outsider), Threat has plenty of pace for 6 furlongs which he can prove by challenging the market principles at Newmarket.

Betting Predictions

In a race with so much quality it’s perhaps unsurprising that there is so much good betting value to be found in the Middle Park Stakes. Still, the fact you can get 9/2 from Coral on Siskin and 12/1 from bet365 on Threat is very exciting from a punting perspective.

This is set up to be a thrilling race with several horses likely to be in the frame as we approach the closing stages. Siskin, though, is the one the others will have to finish ahead of so he gets the nod to win.

Recent Race Winners

2018 – Ten Sovereigns – jockey Donnacha O’Brien, trainer Aidan O’Brien
2017 – US Navy Flag – jockey Seamie Heffernan, trainer Aidan O’Brien
2016 – The Last Lion – jockey Joe Fanning, trainer Mark Johnston
2015 – Shalaa – jockey Frankie Dettori, trainer John Gosden
2014 – Charming Thought – jockey William Buick, trainer Charlie Appleby
2013 – Astaire – jockey Neil Callan, trainer Kevin Ryan
2012 – Reckless Abandon – jockey Gérald Mossé, trainer Clive Cox
2011 – Crusade – jockey Seamie Heffernan, trainer Aidan O’Brien
2010 – Dream Ahead – jockey William Buick, trainer David Simcock
2009 – Awzaan – jockey Richard Hills, trainer Mark Johnston
2008 – Bushranger – jockey Johnny Murtagh, trainer David Wachman
2007 – Dark Angel – jockey Michael Hills, trainer Barry Hills
2006 – Dutch Art – jockey Frankie Dettori, trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam

Race History, Top Jockeys and Best Trainers

First run back in 1866, the “Middle Park” of this races title refers to the stud of one William Blenkiron, which was at the time one of the most influential breeding operations in the world. Blenkiron himself helped to fund the race he founded for a number of years, and proved influential in its ascent to become one of the top two year old sprint contests of the year.

For well over 100 years the event was open to both colts and fillies, with the contest only being restricted to the colts for the first time in 1987.

This event tends to attract a high quality field, with the winner often going on to great things. The talented but unpredictable Petrarch was one of the smartest early winners, subsequently going on to land both the 2000 Guineas and St Leger in 1876. The race also provided an early pointer as to the brilliance of both Isinglass (1892) and Pretty Polly (1903), with both horses going on to famously land the triple crown.

Triple crown winner, Sun Chariot (1941), and the super sprinter Abernant (1948) carried on the procession of top class winners into the 1900s, a century which saw one of the greatest of them all score here, when Brigadier Gerard took the prize in 1970.

Winners in more recent times have been more likely to stick to sprinting than move on to a Classic campaign. Oasis Dream (2002) and Dream Ahead (2010) both went on to land the July Cup, whilst Johannesburg recorded a famous success at the Breeders Cup.

Jockeys and Trainers

Danny Maher set an early benchmark amongst the jockeys here, with six wins between the years of 1901 and 1913. As of 2017, this feat had been twice equalled but never bettered. Maher certainly finds himself in elevated company as the two men to share his record are two of the true legends of the game, Sir Gordon Richards and Lester Piggott.

A total of eight trainers have achieved four wins in this race, with Joseph Dawson being the first back in the 1800’s, but Irishman Aidan O’Brien is in the lead with six wins after back-to-back victories in 2017 and 2018.