Last year’s race

• Winner: Marvelman
• Jockey: Oisin Murphy
• Trainer: Andrew M Balding
• Owner: Mr & Mrs R M Gorell
• Age: 3 Weight: 9st 2lbs
• Starting Price: 13/2
• Season Form Figures: 12933
• Previous Best: 3rd - Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes (Group 2), Newbury (August 2025)

By Paul Jones

Not as straightforward from a long-term trends perspective as the Park Stakes was upgraded to Group 2 status in 2004 having also been dropped from 1m to 7f a year earlier.

This was unquestionably formerly a race to support a three or four-year-old but it has been all change since the elevation to Group 2 standard as there have been three successful seven-year-olds after Kinross won his second Park Stakes two years ago, four winning six-year-olds and three successful five-year-olds in the last 17 years. Three-year-olds have won four of the last 13 runnings following Marvelman’s win last season.

Only three winners were sent off at a double-figure price in the last 34 runnings and 20 of those winners were sent off at no bigger than just 11/2, so it has been a good race for punters. I suppose that is not surprising when we consider that 18 of the last 20 winners had won a Group race earlier in their career, 11 of them during the current season.

As for the current season, five of the last eight winners ran at the Ebor Meeting, four of which in the now-Group 1 City Of York Stakes, so we could see a few of the beaten horses behind Notable Speech ship up here.

The Park Stakes has also been a race that has recently witnessed horses running very well on more than one occasion. In fact, there have been five dual winners since 1996; Bishop Of Cashel, Iffraaj, Arabian Gleam and Kinross. Seven furlongs can be seen as a specialist trip. In addition, Duff posted finishing positions of 214 up to 2010, Premio Loco won in 2011 having finished second in 2010 and Breton Rock took the spoils in 2016 having finished third to Limato in the 2015 running and he filled the same berth the previous year.

Sir Michael Stoute has the best recent record winning the Park Stakes on four occasions since 1995 before his retirement followed by James Fanshawe, who has won the race three times. Ralph Beckett (both wins courtesy of Kinross), and Andrew Balding have won the last four runnings between them. Irish stables have won four times going back to 2009, two courtesy of Edward Lynam.