Last year’s race

• Winner: Avicenna
• Jockey: William Buick
• Trainer: Roger Varian
• Owner: Godolphin
• Age: 2 Weight: 9st 2lbs
• Starting Price: 11/2
• Season Form Figures: 1
• Previous Best: 1st - Class 3 Novice Stakes, Doncaster (August 2025)

By Paul Jones

A Listed contest for two-year-olds over 7f, the Flying Scotsman was upgraded from a conditions stakes in 2013 and named after the famous locomotive built in Doncaster 91 years previously.

The race’s best-ever winner? That’s not too difficult as Frankel took the 2010 running by 12 lengths on his second start. However, when it was a conditions race, it was won by subsequent winners of the Derby (Benny The Dip), Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes (Shaadi), as well as a dual Juddmonte International winner who also won a Coral-Eclipse (Ezzoud) in an eight-year period. Hoo Ya Mal was beaten a short-head into second four years ago before filling the same position in the Derby.

In 2005, it was won by the Coolmore-owned City Of Troy. No, not that one but, clearly, they wanted another go at giving a horse they clearly thought plenty of with such an illustrious name. The first version raced in the colours of Michael Tabor for the now-retired Sir Michael Stoute, who is the Flying Scotsman’s leading trainer with five wins stretching back to 1983 when known as the Queen’s Own Yorkshire Dragoons Stakes for many years. There have been no Irish-trained winners in the last 42 years, though few have tried.

After the success of Avicenna for Roger Varian last year, Godolphin have now owned the winner on five occasions going back to 2004 and, more recently, Roger Teal has twice won this race in the last eight years with his best two-year-old, Tip Two Win and Dancing Gemini, who both went on to place in a 2000 Guineas. Since Benny The Dip won in 1996, John Gosden has won it twice more.

The race wouldn’t attract big fields but worth noting all the same that until Dancing Gemini won from stall 7 of 9 in 2023, the previous 14 winners were all drawn 1-5 as was the 2024  winner, Benevento.

Of the last 16 winners, seven were returned at no bigger than 15/8. The previous winner to those, Secrecy, was making a winning debut when successful at 12/1. Since his victory 14 of the 16 winners had previously won just once earlier in their two-year-old career, 11 of which on their previous start and 10 of which over 7f or 1m.