Last season's race

• Winner: Vintage Clarets
• Jockey: Hugh Bowman
• Trainer: Richard Fahey
• Owner: Mr A Tattersall & Partner
• Age: 6 Weight: 9st 8lbs
• Starting Price: 5/1
• Season Form Figures: 0736527
• Previous Best: 1st - William Hill Catterick Dash (Class 2 Handicap), Catterick (October 2024)

By Paul Jones

A 5f sprint for horses rated up to 105 which has been an excellent handicap for the leading fancies with all single-figure-priced winners in the last 15 years - and all but one starting at no bigger than 6/1 in the first three in the betting of which seven started favourite or joint-favourite. Admittedly the maximum field size is only ten but, even so.

This is especially pertinent when we consider that the 2023 winner, Rogue Lightning, arrived here off the back of a last-time-out win yet he was the biggest priced of those last 15 winners at 9/1.

Course form is often a key factor in the sprints at Ascot. Seven of the last 16 winners had run at Ascot on their previous outing for example. Two recent winners contested the Stewards’ Cup the previous weekend so were dropping down in trip and two of the last three winners were following up a last-time-out success.

Regards age and weight, the only three-year-old to face the starter in 2022 justified favouritism under then-Shergar Cup stalwart, Hayley Turner, and the following season, just two three-year-olds ran, one of which was the winner. Fortification and Underwriter are their only two entries.

Four and five-year-olds have won ten of the 15 runnings between them. Highly-weighted horses have fared well with six winners carrying 9st 10lb+. Only four winners had run less than four times earlier in the season and nine of the last 15 winners had won at least three times during their career.

Robert Cowell saddled the winner in 2010, 2014 and 2015 so his entries must be respected. Andrew Balding is a big supporter of the Shergar Cup races (only the Johnston stable has had more runners) and he won back-to-back runnings in 2011 and 2012 before Stone Of Destiny took the 2019 running.