Stewards Cup: Ten-Year Trends and Betting Tips

The 2025 edition of the Qatar Goodwood Festival has certainly been eventful so far, with the opening days supplying a heartbreaking renewal of the Goodwood Cup and a 150/1 shock in the Sussex Stakes. With the Group 1 action out of the way, the sprinters take centre stage on the closing day in one of the most iconic handicaps of the season.

First run back in 1840, the Stewards Cup is the definition of a cavalry charge as a maximum field of 28 fan out across the Goodwood turf. With a cool £250,000 in total prize money up for grabs, the event invariably attracts the cream of the sprint handicap division.

For punters, the race presents one of the season's trickiest handicap puzzles. Equally susceptible to a successful gamble or a surprise result, the Stewards Cup has thrown up an intriguing cast of contenders in 2025.

Here, using data presented by NewBettingSites.uk, we look at the ten editions of the race between 2015 and 2024, highlight the standout stats and trends, and pick out our best bets for the 2025 Stewards Cup.

Fate of the Favourite

Considering the size of the field and the many variables to consider, the favourite has an excellent recent record in this race. Of the ten editions in our sample, three were claimed by the market leader, rewarding jolly backers with a profit of £7.50 to £1 level stakes. The three successful favourites were the only three winners who returned a single-figure SP, with five of the ten winners scoring at odds of 20/1 or higher. Get It caused the biggest shock when defying odds of 40/1 to break the track record in 2024.

Recent Run an Advantage

Race fitness appears to be an advantage in this event. Aberama Gold claimed the 2023 edition just seven days after winning the Dash at York, while all ten winners had appeared within the last 46 days. Applying this trend to the 2025 field reduces the list of runners from 28 to 27. Not much help, but a start, nonetheless.

Up to This Level

Four of the ten editions were won by a horse who had proven themselves outside of handicap company earlier in their careers. All ten winners boasted at least one win at Class 2 level or above. Filtering the runners through our second 10/10 trend leaves 22.

Going the Distance

The final 10/10 trend isn’t particularly surprising for such a hot handicap as this, with all ten winners having scored at least once over the 6f trip of the Stewards Cup. Only small inroads again, as we trim our list to 20.

3-6 the Preferred Age Range

The Steward’s Cup is open to runners aged three and older. However, only two horses older than six have come home in front in the modern era – the seven-year-old Lancelot Du Lac in 2017, and the eight-year-old Shikari’s Son in 1995. Focusing on the 3–6-year-olds is the percentage call. Applying this trend to the remaining runners leaves 13.

Proven in the Grade

With the two most recent editions falling to the two lowest-rated winners for a decade, our ratings graph inevitably shows a downward trend. The average rating of the winner over this period was 103.10, while eight of ten winners were rated at least 101 on the day. Focusing on the 101+ contenders bring us down to only four.

Fairly Handicapped

With four remaining, we will turn to the 7/10 trends to zero in on our selection. Magical Memory, Dancing Star, and Commanche Falls all scored following a 6lb rise in the handicap, but the other seven winners were either very close to or below their previous peak rating. Concentrating on those runners either no more than 1lb above, equal to, or below their previous high mark leaves us with a choice of three.

Betting Selections: The Final Three

• Annaf, 12/1 with BetMGM - Michael Appleby trained six-year-old whose biggest turf success came when mastering dual Stewards Cup winner Commanche Falls in the 2023 edition of the Group 3 Bengough Stakes. Sole turf handicap win also came in that year, and he’s 5lb higher here. He returns for a second crack at the prize, having finished nearer last than first in the 2022 edition. Not too hard to forgive that effort as nothing went right from the start, and his most recent outing over this trip saw him finish an excellent second in the Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle.
• Purosangue, 9/1 with BetGoodwin - Represents Andrew Balding, who claimed the 2016 edition of this with Dancing Star. Has won only two of 15 starts on turf, but he is clearly held in high regard, having lined up in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes in 2024. Placed seven times at Listed level or above, he’s now 6lb below his career high rating, but, like Annaf, he failed to fire in his only previous Stewards Cup outing.
• Alzahir, 33/1 with BetGoodwin - This Jennie Candish runner boasts solid form figures of 4118 in turf outings over this 6f trip. Kicking off 2025 on a rating of 84, five wins from 11 outings have now taken him up to a mark of 111. He faded close home when attempting to make all in the Sky Bet Dash last time but wasn’t beaten far and may find this speedy track to his liking.

At 33/1, the bang-in-form Alzahir makes the most appeal at the prices, having run well over 7f on his only previous visit to Goodwood. Likely to make a bold bid from the front, he is the first into the staking plan.

Of the other two, Annaf looked to have more excuses for his Stewards Cup flop than Purosangue and looked as well as ever when narrowly missing out in Group 3 company at Newcastle.

• Recommended Bet - Alzahir each way @ 33/1 with BetGoodwin
• Recommended Bet - Annaf each way @ 12/1 with BetMGM