An Overview of the Lennox Stakes

The Lennox Stakes, which has been run as the Betfair Cup since 2004, is a 7f Group 2 Flat horse race for three-year-olds and upwards run at Goodwood during the five-day festival known as Glorious Goodwood.

The 2010 race will be held on Tuesday, July 27.

Lennox Stakes History

The Lennox Stakes was introduced by Goodwood in 2000 and was initially run as a Group 3, sponsored by jewellers Theo Fennell. It was elevated to Group 2 in 2003 and has been sponsored by Betfair since 2004.

The first winner Observatory (2000) went on to enjoy Group 1 success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes the same year and there have been similarly high-profile wins since for Court Masterpiece (2005), who won the same year's Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, and Paco Boy (2008), who won the following year's Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. Nayyir (2002 and 2003) was beaten only a neck by Soviet Song in the 2004 Sussex Stakes and Iffraaj (2006) had been beaten only a head by Les Arcs in the July Cup on his previous start.

Follow the Racing Post's bloodstock news to see who the future winners of the Lennox Stakes could be.

Goodwood Racecourse

The 3rd Duke of Richmond first brought horse racing to Goodwood in 1802 and successive Dukes of Richmond have continued the tradition on the Goodwood estate high on the Sussex Downs. Goodwood Racecourse is renowned as one of the most picturesque racecourses in the world and the annual five-day meeting in late July/early August, known as Glorious Goodwood, is one of the major summer festivals of British racing.

The big races at the meeting are the Sussex Stakes, Nassau Stakes, the Goodwood Cup and the Stewards’ Cup.
Until 1965 Glorious Goodwood was the only meeting staged at the course, but now there are 23 racing days annually at the course, which stages Flat racing only.

Lennox Stakes Facts

1. Iffraaj (2006) is the only winning favourite to date. He started at 6-4.
2. Byron (2004) was the longest-priced winner at 16-1.
3. The biggest field was 14 in 2005.
4. Nayyir (2002 & 2003) almost died of colic in Hong Kong in the intervening winter. He ran at Glorious Goodwood in six consecutive years.

Further Reading

1. Lennox Stakes on Wikipedia - A brief overview and list of past winners.
2. Lennox Stakes Pedigree Query - Pedigree of all historical winners of the race.
3. Official Goodwood Racecourse - All about the racecourse at Goodwood.
4. Bloodstock Sales - Ever thought about owning a racehorse ?