Mallard Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (St Leger Festival)

2024 Mallard Handicap Preview

Scheduled to take place in September of each year at the Doncaster racecourse is the Mallard Handicap which is run during the St Leger Festival.

The class two handicap is aimed at the stayers on the flat with it being over a trip of one mile, six and a half furlongs that is open to runners aged three or older.

Mallard Handicap Information:

• Mallard Handicap Past Winners
• Mallard Handicap Trainer Statistics
• Mallard Handicap Jockey Statistics

We also have a dedicated Doncaster tips page that will cover this race as well as all of the other races on the day of the race, see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are predicting to win this race and the others on the cards. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal races during the Doncaster St Leger Festival section for links to these.

How competitive is the Mallard Handicap market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2006 when the race had an over-round of 110%. The race in 2008 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 123%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Mallard Handicap, the over-round has been 116%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £116 which is bet.

Mallard Handicap Trends:

• 2024 Mallard Handicap Trends
• Mallard Handicap Trend Analysis
• Mallard Handicap Trend Shortlist

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Mallard Handicap next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 20 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -10.67. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page to access the OLBG racing picks easily daily.

Over the last 20 renewals, it was Sunday Symphony, trained by Saeed bin Suroor and ridden by Frankie Dettori who set the fastest winning time in the Mallard Handicap, the runner won the race in a time of 2:58.52 when winning the race in 2006. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Adrian Paul Keatley and jockey Mark Winn with Legendary Day who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 3:18.28 in the 2023 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Mallard Handicap over the last 20 renewals:

1. Sunday Symphony (2:58.52) in 2006
2. Nanton (3:02.64) in 2009
3. Curbyourenthusiasm (3:03.34) in 2015

Mallard Handicap Past Winners

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

Where have the winning runners come from?

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

• GB: 20 winners with an additional 37 placings from 209 runners
• IRE: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

Mallard Handicap Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Mallard Handicap over the last 20 renewals is James Fanshawe who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Old Hundred (2011) and Sleeping Lion (2019).

Here are the Mallard Handicap trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals for trainers who have entries in the 2024 renewal, those not listed have not had a runner. (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):

Mallard Handicap Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Mallard Handicap over the last 20 renewals is Jamie Spencer who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Sendintank (2005), Precision Break (2010), Curbyourenthusiasm (2015) and Sleeping Lion (2019).

Here are the Mallard Handicap jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals for jockeys who have entries in the 2024 renewal, those not listed have not had a runner. (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):

Mallard Handicap Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +27.71 is when runners had 1 place in the past 90 days. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners last win was 2 starts ago, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-32.

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

• 2023: Winner in 3 (1) [7 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 11 (13,5) [10 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 5 (10,4) [10 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 3 (6,5) [8 Runners]
• 2019: Winner in 5 (3) [6 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Mallard Handicap is York, there has been a total number of 10 winners of this race who ran at York last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 200 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 10 runners.

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

• Montjeu (0 Wins from 10 runners)
• Galileo (0 Wins from 9 runners)
• Cape Cross (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Hernando (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Precision Break in 2010, winning for Paul Cole at odds of 20/1 under the guidance of Jamie Spencer. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 6 winning favourites in the race. Before placing your bet on the 2024 Mallard Handicap head over to see which other runners today are being backed by the best racing tipsters today.

Mallard Handicap Trend Shortlist

Doncaster will host the 2024 renewal of the Mallard Handicap which will be run at 1:50 pm on Friday 13th September 2024 and these are the runners who perform best based on the trends along with the trainer and jockey and their record in the race (Runs-Wins-Places Win LSP / EW LSP):

• 15/15 Shadow Dance (10/3)
  • Roger Varian (3-1-2 +3.00 / +3.00)
  • James Doyle (5-0-1 -5.00 / +0.50)

Others: Subsequent (14/15), Dream Harder (14/15), East India Dock (13/15), Evaluation (13/15), Citizen General (12/15), Quantum Leap (12/15) and Faylaq (10/15).

*Trainer & Jockey numbers are Runs-Wins-Places Win LSP / EW LSP, Runners, Odds and Trends Passed/Failed correct at the time of posting (11:47 am Wednesday 11th September 2024), if no odds were available at the time of posting then forecasted odds are used.

Shadow Dance won the York Ebor Festival Sky Bet Handicap last time out and a total of 2 previous winners of that race from a total of 20 runners went on to win next time out, backing them all would have returned an LSP of -15.25.

Other Principal races during the Doncaster St Leger Festival

Here is the schedule for the four-day St Leger Festival for races which we cover with blogs, each race will be linked to the race blog and detail last year's winner in the table below.

Thursday at St Leger Festival

There are a couple of Group 2's which take centre-stage on the opening day of the St Leger Festival, the £120k May Hill Stakes where the two-year-olds feature and then the £150k Park Hill Fillies Stakes where the older fillies compete.

Friday at St Leger Festival

On Friday, the feature race of the day is the Group 2 Doncaster Cup which is part of the British Champion Series and carries a £140k purse. The Flying Childers Stakes is another race on Friday which carries a decent purse, £130k on offer for the two-year-olds.

Saturday at St Leger Festival

The feature race of the festival, the St Leger takes place on Saturday, another race which is part of the British Champion Series, this Group 1 carries a purse of £700k. The three races before the St Leger all carry decent purses too, the Champagne Stakes (£150k), the Portland (£100k) and the Park Stakes (£140k).

Sunday at St Leger Festival

Sunday is a bit more low-key, only one class one race which is the £85k Sceptre Stakes for the fillies over 7f and there are also a couple of decent handicaps carrying good purses of £70k and £65k.

Other Principal Races at Doncaster Racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Doncaster racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in January

• Great Yorkshire Chase

Races in March

• Grimthorpe Handicap Chase
• Lincoln Handicap
• Spring Mile

Races in October

• Doncaster Stakes
• Futurity Trophy
• Futurity Trophy Weekend 5f Handicap
• Futurity Trophy Weekend 6f Handicap