Old Rowley Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Future Champions Festival)

The Old Rowley Cup, held annually at Newmarket during the Future Champions Festival over a distance of 1m4f, is a race rich with history. In this preview, we uncover winning formulas by highlighting notable records and the key trends formed across past renewals.
Old Rowley Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Future Champions Festival)
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Expert Guide

You know how punters get lost in too much data or bet blindly? I break down the stats and trends so you can feel confident you’re betting with more than just gut instinct.

2026 Old Rowley Cup Preview

Scheduled to take place in October of each year at the Newmarket racecourse is the Old Rowley Cup, a heritage class two handicap that is run over a distance of one mile and four furlongs, with only three-year-old runners allowed to enter.

Old Rowley Cup Information:

Why not use the trends shortlist below to help you narrow down the field and then head over to the dedicated Newmarket 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 during the Future Champions Festival section for links to these.

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How competitive is the Old Rowley Cup market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 12 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2018 when the race had an over-round of 118%. The race in 2019 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 138%, whilst on average over the last 12 renewals of the Old Rowley Cup, the over-round has been 125%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £125 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2026 Old Rowley 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 Old Rowley Cup Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Old Rowley Cup races over the last 12 renewals:

  1. First Nation (2:29.13) in 2017
  2. Al Nafir (2:29.80) in 2022
  3. Trueshan (2:29.85) in 2019

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? Over the past 12 renewals, if you had followed the winner of the Old Rowley Cup next time out, then you would have backed a total of 1 winner. Backing all 10 runners who have been out since their win at SP next time out would have returned an LSP of -7.00. Whilst we wait for the 2026 Old Rowley Cup, remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 12 renewals, a time of 2:29.13 was set by First Nation in 2017, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, which is the quickest time over that period. The slowest winning time was set in 2020 when Kingbrook won in a time of 2:34.73 for trainer Ian Williams, who booked Richard Kingscote in the saddle.

What the expert says...
The Heritage Handicap run at Ascot a month earlier over twelve furlongs produced the winners of this race in both 2022 (Al Nafir) and 2023 (Alsakib).

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Old Rowley Cup Past Winners

Here are the Old Rowley 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 from which the horse came and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Old Rowley Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2025
2:31.88
Yabher (GB)
3yo 9-2 (1 of 12) 13/2
Tom Marquand
William Haggas (GB)
2024
2:32.81
Sun God (GB)
3yo 8-7 (2 of 15) 11/2
David Egan
Hughie Morrison (GB)
2023
2:32.80
Alsakib (GB)
3yo 9-3 (10 of 10) 100/30F
James Doyle
Andrew Balding (GB)
2022
2:29.80
Al Nafir (IRE)
3yo 8-11 (12 of 16) 16/1
Pat Dobbs
Charlie Appleby (GB)
2021
2:31.61
Siskany (GB)
3yo 9-7 (4 of 15) 3/1F
William Buick
Charlie Appleby (GB)
2020
2:34.73
Kingbrook (GB)
3yo 8-11 (7 of 17) 14/1
Richard Kingscote
Ian Williams (GB)
2019
2:29.85
Trueshan (FR)
3yo 9-0 (17 of 19) 13/2F
William Buick
Alan King (GB)
2018
2:32.15
Rock Eagle (GB)
3yo 8-7 (10 of 11) 3/1F
Harry Bentley
Ralph Beckett (GB)
2017
2:29.13
First Nation (GB)
3yo 9-0 (15 of 16) 12/1
William Buick
Charlie Appleby (GB)
2016
2:34.23
Scarlet Dragon (GB)
3yo 8-12 (17 of 16) 8/1
Hollie Doyle (5lbs)
Eve Johnson Houghton (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Old Rowley Cup have been based:

  • GB: 12 winners with an additional 28 placings from 182 runners
  • IRE: 0 winners with an additional 2 placings from 3 runners

Old Rowley Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Old Rowley Cup over the last 12 renewals is Charlie Appleby, who has won the race three times, with those three winners coming from First Nation (2017), Siskany (2021) and Al Nafir (2022).

Here are some of the top Old Rowley Cup trainer statistics over the last 12 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
Charlie Appleby7-3-4+27.00+19.38
Andrew Balding12-1-2-7.67-8.08
William Haggas10-1-3-2.50-2.27
Ralph Beckett9-1-2-5.00-2.57
Alan King8-1-3-0.50+1.19
Peter Chapple-Hyam6-1-2+35.00+22.50
Sir Michael Stoute6-1-1+3.00+0.00
Hughie Morrison6-1-2+0.50-0.25
Eve Johnson Houghton5-1-1+4.00+1.00
Ian Williams3-1-1+12.00+6.75

Old Rowley Cup Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Old Rowley Cup over the last 12 renewals is William Buick, who has won the race three times, with those three winners coming from First Nation (2017), Trueshan (2019) and Siskany (2021).

Here are some of the top Old Rowley Cup jockey statistics over the last 12 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
William Buick11-3-4+13.50+6.69
Ryan Moore8-1-1+1.00-2.00
David Egan6-1-3+0.50+1.42
James Doyle6-1-2-1.67-1.87
Luke Morris5-1-1+36.00+21.00
Tom Marquand5-1-3+2.50+3.98
Richard Kingscote4-1-1+11.00+5.75
Harry Bentley3-1-1+1.00-0.20
Pat Dobbs2-1-1+15.00+9.00
Hollie Doyle2-1-2+7.00+5.25

Old Rowley Cup Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor, which has produced 6+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +54.50, is when runners had 2 career starts in the class.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 career starts in the class, when backing these, the trend shows a record of 0-56.

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

  • 2025: Winner in 1 (2,5) [12 Runners]
  • 2024: Winner in 2 (7,11) [15 Runners]
  • 2023: Winner in 10 (7,6) [10 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 12 (6,16,5) [16 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 4 (8,3) [15 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Old Rowley Cup is Goodwood; there have been a total of 3 winners of this race who ran at Goodwood last time out.

The race is open to both sexes, with the Male runners having produced a total of 12 winners from a total of 176 runners, whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 9 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Old Rowley Cup:

  • Dubawi (3 Wins)
  • Kingman (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Old Rowley Cup despite multiple attempts:

  • Frankel (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Golden Horn (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Lope De Vega (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 12 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Farquhar in 2014, winning for Peter Chapple-Hyam at odds of 40/1 under the guidance of Luke Morris. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 12 renewals, there have been 4 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find a bet on the 2026 Old Rowley Cup.

Route to the Old Rowley Cup

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Old Rowley Cup. These are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2025 - Yabher
Goodwood - 12th of 13 (12/1)
Coral Pipped At The Post Winners Handicap
2024 - Sun God
York - 5th of 16 (14/1)
Melrose Heritage Handicap
2023 - Alsakib
Ascot - 1st of 9 (5/1)
Ascot Heritage Handicap
2022 - Al Nafir
Ascot - 6th of 11 (15/2)
Ascot Heritage Handicap
2021 - Siskany
Goodwood - 2nd of 13 (10/3)
Unibet "15 To Go" Handicap
2020 - Kingbrook
Newbury - 3rd of 11 (8/1)
Dubai Duty Free Handicap
2019 - Trueshan
Haydock - 2nd of 12 (8/1)
Better Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap
2018 - Rock Eagle
Goodwood - 4th of 12 (6/1)
Kincsem Handicap
2017 - First Nation
Newmarket (Rowley) - 2nd of 8 (3/1)
International Stud Book Committee Handicap
2016 - Scarlet Dragon
Newbury - 2nd of 18 (10/1)
Dubai Duty Free Handicap

Other Principal races during the Future Champions Festival

Remember to head to the Newmarket predictions page to see which runner the racing tipsters support in the Old Rowley Cup. Below are the other principal races that we cover during the Future Champions Festival, with links to each race blog as well as information for last year's winners.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
Friday
Challenge Stakes
Beauvatier (FR)
4yo - 7/1
Y Barberot
Alexis Pouchin
Friday
Fillies Mile
Precise (IRE)
2yo - 5/4
A P O'Brien
Christophe Soumillon
Friday
Old Rowley Cup
Yabher (GB)
3yo - 13/2
William Haggas
Tom Marquand
Saturday
Dewhurst Stakes
Gewan (GB)
2yo - 25/1
Andrew Balding
James Doyle
Saturday
Cesarewitch Handicap
Beylerbeyi (GB)
5yo - 7/1
Ian Williams
Billy Loughnane

Article Contributor Information

We are fortunate to have an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to the creation and maintenance of this Old Rowley Cup Preview are Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips 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.

James Banting

James Banting

Expert Guide

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Association provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Expert Guide

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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