5 Fast Facts: Racing Post Trophy S.

Oct 26, 2017 Alastair Bull/TwinSpires.com

5 Fast Facts about the Racing Post Trophy Stakes, an European Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race

1. The race was founded in 1961 after Phil Bull, the founder of the iconic British form guide Timeform, said British 2-year-olds should have a major race available over a mile. He backed it up himself by setting up the Timeform Gold Cup. It has since been sponsored by The Observer newspaper, William Hill bookmakers, and, since 1979, the Racing Post.
2. Winners of the Racing Post Trophy include 13 winners of 16 Classics. It has produced winners of the 2,000 Guineas (High Top, Camelot); French 2,000 Guineas (Green Dancer, American Post); Derby (Reference Point, High Chaparral, Motivator, Authorized, Camelot); Oaks (Noblesse); Irish Derby (Ribocco); French Derby (Celtic Swing); and St Leger (Ribocco, Reference Point, Brian Boru, Kingston Hill).
3. The highest-rated horse to win the race did not run in a classic. Vaguely Noble won by seven lengths in 1967, despite being boxed in with two furlongs remaining. Sold at auction at the end of 1967 for a then-record 136,000 guineas (142,800 British pounds), he wasn’t entered for any Classics and supplementing was not then possible. He proved himself fully worth the purchase by winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, earned a 140 Timeform rating, and became a top sire.
4. When betting on this year’s race, don’t forget jockey Andrea Atzeni, who rides Chilean. Atzeni is going for his fifth consecutive Racing Post Trophy, having won the last four aboard Kingston Hill, Elm Park, Marcel, and Rivet.
5. The race is part of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, and it has produced one notable Kentucky Derby horse. Bold Arrangement finished second to Bakharoff in 1985, but was later disqualified. He finished second to Ferdinand in the Kentucky Derby the next year. Another winner with connections to the Kentucky Derby is 1965 winner Pretendre, whose first crop as a sire included the Venezuelan-trained 1971 Kentucky Derby winner Canonero.

Bet on the Kentucky Derby prep races at TwinSpires.