Sandringham Handicap

The Sandringham Handicap is restricted to three-year-old fillies over a mile on day 4 of Royal Ascot.

It was formerly known as the Fern Hill Rated Stakes and took place on the Saturday after the Royal meeting.

Notable Sandringham Handicap winners include Red Evie (2006), Timepiece (2010) and Persuasive (2016), all subsequent Group 1 winners.

Find out more about the Sandringham:

Race Overview – The Sandringham

The Sandringham Handicap is a Uk flat handicap sporting event for three-year-old fillies. It is held each year on the fourth day of the Royal Ascot meeting at Ascot with a distance of 1 mile.

Check out our guides to all the other UK Premier Handicap horse races.

Sandringham Handicap Previous Winners

Take a look at the previous winners from the Sandringham Handicap:

Sandringham Handicap Previous Result

Famous Sandringham Handicap Winners

Red Evie (2016) was successful in this race for Trainer Michael Bell and jockey Jamie Spencer. She was winning her fifth successive race that day, a sequence that would extend to seven races. Her subsequent victories included the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown and the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes (2007) at Newbury.

Sir Henry Cecil’s Timepiece (2010) had been disappointing in the Epsom Oaks but bounced back to form in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot. She was always a highly regarded filly and claimed Group 1 success in the 2011 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.

Persuasive (2016) was a grey filly by Dark Angel trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. She started a well-backed 11-4 favourite when winning here. Her biggest career win came in the 2017 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

American Trainer Wesley Ward is better known for his speedy juveniles but he claimed the Sandringham Handicap in 2017 with Con Te Partiro. Trainer Charlie Fellowes and Jockey Hayley Turner teamed up for back-to-back wins here with Thanks Be (2019) and Onassis (2020). Turner became only the second female rider to win at the Royal meeting, 32 years after Gay Kelleway had won the Queen Alexandra Stakes. She had retired from race riding in 2015 but returned to the sport in 2018.

Johnny Murtagh tasted plenty of Royal Ascot success as a jockey and chalked up a training success in this race in 2021 with Create Belief.

Key Sandringham Handicap Trials

Winners of the Sandringham Handicap come from a wide range of sources but is certainly worth noting fillies that had run in Classic races. Timepiece (2010) had the unusual previous run of having finished eighth in the Epsom Oaks over a mile and a half. Queen Catrine was beaten a short-head by Muteela in 2014 after finishing down the field in the French 1000 Guineas.

Osaila had finished seventh in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket before winning here in 2015. Aidan O’Brien’s Rain Goddess also ran well here after taking a drop in class. She had finished fifth in the French 1000 Guineas before chasing home Con Te Partiro in 2017. Only three of the last twelve winners won on their next outing. Persuasive (2016) won the Atalanta Stakes at Sandown and the Irish-trained pair Duntle (2012) and Create Belief (2021) both won the Desmond Stakes at Leopardstown.

Sandringham Handicap Betting Trends

Favourites have a mixed recent record with four winners in the past twelve seasons. Duntle (2012), Muteela (2014), Persuasive (2016) and Agrotera (2018) were all very well supported and started clear favourite. Agrotera landed the biggest gamble of Royal Ascot 2018 when supported from 14-1 to 11-2 favourite. She was given a typically confident ride by Jamie Spencer and provided a first Royal Ascot winner for trainer Ed Walker.

Con Te Partiro (2017) was a 20-1 shot but bigger shocks were provided by the Charlie Fellowes duo Thanks Be (2019) and Onassis (2020), both returned at 33-1 under Hayley Turner.

Most recent winners of the Sandringham Handicap had raced at least twice during the current season and usually within the last five weeks. Around half of them had won their last race and had previous winning form over a mile.

Most recent winners had an official rating of 91 or higher, although this dipped below that mark between 2018 and 2020; Agrotera (88), Thanks Be (84) and Onassis (81). The highest rated winner in recent years was Richard Hannon’s Osaila (2015) who was rated 107.

Sandringham Handicap – Top Trainers and Jockeys

The leading jockey in the Sandringham Handicap is Frankie Dettori with seven wins; Palana (1994), Cask (1995), Brave Kris (1997), Independence (2001), Hold To Ransom (2003), Osaila (2015) and Persuasive (2016). Jamie Spencer also has a good record in this event with four victories. He won it in 2006 on Red Evie and has since been successful aboard Moneycantbuymelove (2009), Con Te Partiro (2017) and the heavily-backed Agrotera (2018).

Irish-trained runners do not have a great record in this race. Johnny Murtagh’s Create Belief (2021) was the first winner trained in the Emerald Isle since Duntle won for David Wachman in 2012. Wesley Ward struck a blow for the United States with 20-1 shot Con Te Partiro in 2017.

Summary of Sandringham Handicap

Thank you for reading our Sandringham Handicap guide, we hope it was helpful.

The Sandringham Handicap takes place on the same day as the following races listed below:

• King Edward Vii Stakes
• Coronation Stakes
• Albany Stakes
• Commonwealth Cup
• Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes

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