Esher Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Classic Trial Day)

Explore the prestigious Esher Cup at Sandown Park, a thrilling 1-mile Class 2 handicap for three-year-olds. Delve into past winners, top trainers, and jockeys while uncovering key trends that shape this exciting event during the Classic Trial Day meeting.
Esher Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Classic Trial Day)
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2026 Esher Cup Preview

Run over a trip of one mile and open to runners who are aged three years old is the Esher Cup which is a Class 2 handicap that takes place at Sandown during April and is a race that can throw up a surprise result despite the smallish fields that we get each year.

Esher Cup Information:

Why not use the trends shortlist below to help you narrow down the field and then head over to the dedicated Sandown tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG expert racing tipsters to find yourself a bet? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information. Head down to the Other Principal Races at Sandown Racecourse section for links to these.


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How competitive is the Esher Cup market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2004 when the race had an over-round of 109%. The race in 2007 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 124%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Esher Cup, the over-round has been 115%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £115 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2026 Esher Cup Trends. See which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal. We also have a section that looks at the Esher Cup Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Esher Cup over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Desert Dew (1:42.74) in 2007
  2. Racketeer (1:42.92) in 2009
  3. Prince Samos (1:43.22) in 2005

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? Over the past 20 renewals, if you had followed the winner of the Esher Cup next time out, then you would have backed a total of 4 winners. Backing all 20 runners who have been out since their win at SP next time out would have returned an LSP of -7.75. Whilst we wait for the 2026 Esher Cup remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

Over the last 20 renewals, it was Desert Dew, trained by B W Hills and ridden by Michael Hills, who set the fastest winning time in the Esher Cup. That runner won the race in a time of 1:42.74 in 2007. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Marco Botti and jockey Silvestre De Sousa with Grey Mirage who set the slowest winning time; the race-winning time was 1:54.30 in the 2012 renewal.

What the expert says...
The three winners between 2021 & 2024 (No renewal in 2023) went directly to Royal Ascot with the 2024 winner, Hand Of God, winning the Golden Gates Stakes while the other two were well beaten in the Britannia Stakes & St James's Palace Stakes.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Esher Cup Past Winners

Here are the Esher Cup 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 horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Esher Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

Race Notes: The 2023 renewal was abandoned due to unsafe ground.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2025
1:45.35
Fifth Column (IRE)
3yo 9-0 (7 of 8) 5/2F
William Buick
John & Thady Gosden (GB)
2024
1:45.48
Hand Of God (GB)
3yo 8-12 (4 of 5) 1/1F
Ryan Moore
Harry Charlton (GB)
2022
1:46.25
Wanees (GB)
3yo 8-12 (5 of 10) 100/30
Jim Crowley
Charles Hills (GB)
2021
1:46.52
Naamoos (FR)
3yo 9-7 (7 of 9) 11/2
Ben Curtis
Mark Johnston (GB)
2019
1:43.94
Masaru (GB)
3yo 9-7 (5 of 10) 9/1
Ryan Moore
Richard Hannon (GB)
2018
1:45.16
Epic (GB)
3yo 8-10 (5 of 8) 4/1
Silvestre De Sousa
David Elsworth (GB)
2017
1:45.39
Atty Persse (IRE)
3yo 9-1 (1 of 13) 6/4F
James Doyle
Roger Charlton (GB)
2016
1:45.19
Czabo (GB)
3yo 8-10 (7 of 9) 11/1
Silvestre De Sousa
Mick Channon (GB)
2015
1:43.99
Mutarakez (IRE)
3yo 8-9 (6 of 9) 7/1
Frankie Dettori
Brian Meehan (GB)
2014
1:48.42
What About Carlo (FR)
3yo 9-2 (5 of 8) 12/1
Jimmy Fortune
Eve Johnson Houghton (GB)

Esher Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Esher Cup over the last 20 renewals is John Gosden, who has won the race two times, with those two winners coming from Racketeer (2009) and Fallen Idol (2010). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Esher Cup. Andrew Balding has sent a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Esher Cup trainer statistics over the last 20 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):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
John Gosden8-2-3+1.33-0.91
Richard Hannon12-1-4-2.00-1.07
Charles Hills5-1-2-0.67-0.62
Roger Charlton5-1-3-2.50+0.34
Brian Meehan4-1-2+4.00+3.30
Clive Cox4-1-1+2.50+0.44
David Elsworth4-1-1+1.00-0.60
Sir Michael Stoute4-1-1-0.25-1.35
Eve Johnson Houghton3-1-2+10.00+7.30
Marco Botti3-1-1+4.00+1.75

Esher Cup Jockey Statistics

There are two leading jockeys in the Esher Cup over the last 20 renewals, with both Ryan Moore and Silvestre De Sousa, who have both won the race three times. Ryan Moore winners have been with Prince Samos (2005), Masaru (2019) and Hand Of God (2024). Silvestre De Sousa winners have been with Grey Mirage (2012), Czabo (2016) and Epic (2018). The only other jockey to have recorded multiple wins in the Esher Cup is William Buick (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Esher Cup jockey statistics over the last 20 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):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Ryan Moore18-3-5+9.00+1.14
Silvestre De Sousa6-3-4+18.00+11.05
William Buick11-2-5-2.50-0.90
Frankie Dettori6-1-1+2.00-0.80
James Doyle5-1-1-2.50-3.06
Jim Crowley4-1-1+0.33-1.00
Jimmy Quinn2-1-1+13.00+7.40
Adam Kirby1-1-1+5.50+3.44
Ben Curtis1-1-1+5.50+3.30
Nicky Mackay1-1-1+3.33+2.00

Esher Cup Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor, which has produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +27.66, is when runners finished in 1st last time out.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners carried 128lbs when last winning, when backing these, the trend shows a record of 0-23.

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

  • 2025: Winner in 7 (2,6) [8 Runners]
  • 2024: Winner in 4 (5) [5 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 5 (1,4) [10 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 7 (2,8) [9 Runners]
  • 2019: Winner in 5 (11,10) [10 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Esher Cup is Kempton (AW), there have been a total of 6 winners of this race who ran at Kempton (AW) last time out. The next best courses which have produced the second most winners are Newbury and Doncaster, there have been a total of 3 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes, with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 167 runners, whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 6 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have been disappointed with multiple attempts but no wins in the Esher Cup, that stallion is Kodiac who has failed to produce a winner from 6 runners.

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Barathea Dreams in 2004, winning for J S Moore at odds of 14/1 under the guidance of Jimmy Quinn. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals, there have been 4 winning favourites in the race. Remember to bookmark the best racing tipsters page so you can get easy access to the best OLBG racing tipsters.

Route to the Esher Cup

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Esher Cup, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2025 - Fifth Column
Kempton (AW) - 1st of 14 (5/4)
Try Unibets New Improved Acca Boosts Maiden Stakes
2024 - Hand Of God
Newmarket (Rowley) - 1st of 11 (9/1)
Virgin Bet Best Odds Daily British EBF Maiden Stakes
2022 - Wanees
Salisbury - 1st of 10 (11/10)
William Hill Play Responsibly British EBF Novice Stakes
2021 - Naamoos
Musselburgh - 1st of 7 (11/2)
Betway Royal Mile Handicap
2019 - Masaru
Kempton (AW) - 1st of 11 (1/3)
Bet At racingtv.com Novice Median Auction Stakes
2018 - Epic
Doncaster - 9th of 12 (66/1)
Futurity Trophy
2017 - Atty Persse
Sandown - 1st of 11 (10/11)
Willmott Dixon/British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes
2016 - Czabo
Newbury - 1st of 13 (16/1)
Betfred TV EBF Stallions Maiden Fillies Stakes
2015 - Mutarakez
Doncaster - 1st of 18 (6/1)
Betdaq 3% Commission Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden Stakes
2014 - What About Carlo
Newbury - 4th of 5 (7/1)
Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions Stakes

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Esher Cup Preview are at hand, Andy and Darren. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for Flat Racing.

Darren Brett

Darren Brett

Tipster Competition Manager

Darren has worked in the horse racing industry for decades bringing to OLBG for the last 20 years a wealth of knowledge, creating much of our content on these sports. Darren also manages our Grand National Guide and is the go-to font of knowledge for the world's greatest steeplechase.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for flat racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful flat racing blogs for OLBG.

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