Balmoral Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Champions Day)

2024 Balmoral Handicap Preview

The Balmoral Handicap is the only handicap on Champions Day at Ascot which takes place in October. Established in 2014, the 2019 renewal will be just the sixth time this race has been staged. The race is a Class 2 which is open to 3yo+ and is run over a straight mile with a maximum field of 20.

Balmoral Handicap Information:

• Balmoral Handicap Past Winners
• Balmoral Handicap Trainer Statistics
• Balmoral Handicap Jockey Statistics

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Ascot tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Races Covered on Champions Day section for links to these.

How competitive is the Balmoral Handicap market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 10 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2021 when the race had an over-round of 125%. The race in 2014 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 144%, whilst on average over the last 10 renewals of the Balmoral Handicap, the over-round has been 134%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £134 which is bet.

Balmoral Handicap Trends:

• 2024 Balmoral Handicap Trends
• Balmoral Handicap Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 10 if you had followed the winner of the Balmoral Handicap next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 9 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -5.98. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page so you can get easy access to the OLBG racing picks on a daily basis.

Over the last 10 renewals, it was the Roger Charlton trained Yuften ridden by Andrea Atzeni who set the fastest winning time in the Balmoral Handicap, the runner won the race in a time of 1:39.70 was set when winning the race in 2016. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Charlie Johnston and jockey Joe Fanning with The Gatekeeper who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 1:47.11 in the 2023 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Balmoral Handicap over the last 10 renewals:

• 2016 - Yuften (1:39.70)
• 2015 - Musaddas (1:40.84)
• 2021 - Aldaary (1:42.64)

Balmoral Handicap Past Winners

Here are the Balmoral Handicap past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Balmoral Handicap as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Balmoral Handicap have been based:

• GB: 9 winners with an additional 30 placings from 193 runners
• IRE: 1 winner with an additional 0 placings from 11 runners

Balmoral Handicap Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Balmoral Handicap over the last 10 renewals is David O'Meara who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Lord Glitters (2017), Escobar (2019) and Shelir (2022). There are two trainers who have not had the best of times over the last 10 renewals in the Balmoral Handicap, John Gosden has sent a total of 11 runners to the race without recording any wins whilst Andrew Balding has sent out 11 without a winner.

Here are some of the top Balmoral Handicap trainer statistics over the last 10 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

Balmoral Handicap Jockey Statistics

Here are some of the top Balmoral Handicap jockey statistics over the last 10 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

2024 Balmoral Handicap Trends

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): (12, 13), 11, 7, 1, 7, 2, 5, 14, 12, 12

The percentage shown is the percentage of the total number of runners who fell under that factor. High percentages are less appealing than lower ones as you would expect them to do well.

• 10 / 10 (51%) - Off a break of 14 - 25 days
• 10 / 10 (69%) - Had 4 - 12 placings (Career)
• 10 / 10 (70%) - Furthest ran 1mf - 1m2f
• 10 / 10 (70%) - Won within last 6 starts
• 10 / 10 (70%) - Made 1 - 2 starts (30 Days)
• 10 / 10 (71%) - Made 8 - 33 starts (Career)
• 10 / 10 (72%) - Highest Placed is not G1-3/Cl4
• 10 / 10 (76%) - Break of 14 - 180 days (Last Place)
• 10 / 10 (78%) - Had 1 - 5 placings (180 Days)
• 10 / 10 (78%) - No bigger than 16/1 (Career Win)
• 10 / 10 (83%) - Achieved an RPR of 85+ (LTO)
• 10 / 10 (83%) - Carried no more than 132lbs
• 10 / 10 (83%) - Made 4 - 14 starts (1 Year)
• 10 / 10 (85%) - Achieved an RPR of 102+ (Last 3)
• 10 / 10 (88%) - Made 3 - 14 starts (Season)

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Ascot racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the Balmoral Handicap. How well do you know your horse racing? Are there certain types of races that you are unsure of? Why not take a look at this Types Of Horse Race article to familiarise yourself with the different types of racing, that is just one of many helpful horse racing articles in the OLBG Betting School.

Are you already a member? If not, then why not? With over £6,000 given away each month in the tipster competition, why not get involved? Remember, It is completely FREE! So, head over to the registration page to sign up today! If you are already a member, then share your thoughts on the Balmoral Handicap by adding a tip on the race here.

Balmoral Handicap Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +86.50 is when runners ran in a Class 4 on debut. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 starts in the past 30 days, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-59.

Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:

• 2023: Winner in 4 (5,2,7) [20 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 11 (20,2,13) [20 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 11 (15,12,7) [20 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 4 (7,2,10) [18 Runners]
• 2019: Winner in 21 (20,4,7) [20 Runners]

The courses that have produced the most winners of the Balmoral Handicap are Ascot and Newmarket (Rowley), there has been a total number of 4 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 10 winners from a total of 198 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 6 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Balmoral Handicap, that stallion Dark Angel has produced 2 winners (2022,2014).

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Balmoral Handicap despite multiple attempts:

• Lope De Vega (0 Wins from 10 runners)
• Dubawi (0 Wins from 9 runners)
• Pivotal (0 Wins from 9 runners)
• Kingman (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Lawman (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 10 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Shelir in 2022, winning for David O'Meara at odds of 80/1 under the guidance of Jason Watson. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 10 renewals there has been 1 winning favourite in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2024 Balmoral Handicap.

Races Covered on Champions Day

Champions Day races for Saturday 19th October 2024

Here are the races at the Ascot racecourse which take place on Champions Day, all of which we have blogs for.