Saturday's exceptional British Champions Day card concludes with the Balmoral Hanidcap.
Ran after the feature Group 1 Champion Stakes, this has been a notoriously tricky race to get a handle on in the past, with little to separate runners at the end of a long season.
80/1, 25/1, 16/1 & 14/1 winners have landed this in the last 10 years, just one favourite obliging in that time.
We take a look a selection of key trends, stats and previous winners to help whittle down Saturday's maximum field.
Crown Of Oaks was a well-backed winner of this race 12 months and was on track to lineup again but has unfortunately been declared a non-runner.
William Haggas has a fantastic record in this race and still has a solid hand to play with the improving Scoville. The Too Darn Hot gelding had been quite an expensive follow for punters until landing a Doncaster handicap at 5/1 last time out. He might not hit the rating threshold of a typical winner, however, he does fit plenty of the other trends.
Indalo is the definitive trends horse heading into Saturday, ticking the box of all seven key trends. Drawn entirely on the wrong side in the Royal Hunt Cup, he did excellently well to finish third behind subsequent Lennox Stakes runner-up Rogue Diplomat. He is 5lbs up from that mark after winning a Sandown handicap in early July.
Of the seven key trends, age looks to be the factor with the least credence. Crown Of Oaks was three when he won this 12 months ago and Haggas also managed to nab victory with Aldaary at the same age.
Removing the age barrier, then both Colori Forever and Orandi fit all the remaining parameters. Marco Botti trains the former and has acquired the services of Ryan Moore in the saddle. He landed an Ascot handicap back in May and has had varying success in Group races ever since.
Balmoral Handicap previous winners
Year | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Draw |
2025 | Crown Of Oaks | William Haggas | Tom Marquand | 23 |
2024 | Carrytheone | Michael Bell | Christophe Soumillon | 5 |
2023 | The Gatekeeper | Charlie Johnston | Joe Fanning | 4 |
2022 | Shelir | David O'Meara | Jason Watson | 11 |
2021 | Aldaary | William Haggas | Jim Crowley | 11 |
2020 | Njord | Jessica Harrington | Tom Marquand | 4 |
2019 | Escobar | David O'Meara | Adam Kirby | 21 |
2018 | Sharja Bridge | Roger Varian | James Doyle | 8 |
2017 | Lord Glitters | David O'Meara | Daniel Tudhope | 3 |
2016 | Yuften | Roger Charlton | Andrea Atzeni | 1 |
2015 | Musaddas | Saeed bin Suroor | Edward Greatrex | 4 |
2014 | Bronze Angel | Marcus Tregoning | Louis Steward | 10 |
Balmoral Handicap key trends
- Age: 8/12 winners were aged 4 or 5
- Price: 1/12 winners were favourites/joint-favourites
- Rating: 9/12 winners were rated 101 or higher
- Weight: 9/12 winners carried between 9st1lbs and 9st6lbs
- Last Run: 2/12 winners won on their previous start
- Last Run: 12/12 winner ran within the last 34 days
- Course Form: 10/12 had at least one previous run at Ascot
- Group Wins: 0/12 winners had won a Group race
*Trends since 2014
Horse(s) that fit all seven trends:
Indalo - 11/1
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
