The Group 1 duo of the bet365 Fillies’ Mile and the Dewhurst Stakes may do most to live up to the title of the two-day Future Champions Meeting at Newmarket, which kicks off today, but the meeting also contains a selection of quality handicapping contests – none bigger than the marathon affair of the Cesarewitch Handicap.
First run in 1839, this 2m2f event has lost a little lustre due to dwindling prize money in recent years but remains a key late-season target for the leading staying handicappers in training. If recent seasons are any guide, the pick of the stamina-laden stars reside on the other side of the Irish Sea.
Sparked by three successive wins for Willie Mullins between 2018 and 2020, the Irish have plundered this pot five times in the past six years. Will things be any different in 2024? We wouldn’t bet on it. There will be 25 runners go to post this year, 13 of whom hail from the Emerald Isle.
If the raiding party upsets the home team once again, the market suggests one of the following six is most likely to prevail.
Sea Of Sands
- Trainer – Willie Mullins
- Jockey – William Buick
- Sire – Sea The Stars
This ex-German star makes his first start on the level for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 winning trainer Willie Mullins. A Group 3 winner on the flat in his homeland, he returned from a 776-day break to land a Listowel Maiden Hurdle for Mullins in late September. Sea Of Sands has yet to prove his stamina for this 2m2f trip but otherwise looks an obvious contender.
Sixandahalf
- Trainer – Gavin Cromwell
- Jockey – Robert Whearty
- Sire – Snow Sky
No stranger to success in the leading National Hunt events, Navan’s Gavin Cromwell is a trainer to fear whenever he targets a valuable prize. A winner of three of seven starts in 2024 – only once outside the top 3 – Sixandahalf was last sighted finishing a solid third to the potentially Group-class runner The Euphrates in the Irish Cesarewitch at the Curragh.
Jacovec Cavern
- Trainer – Emmet Mullins
- Jockey – Hayley Turner
- Sire – Sixties Icon
Grand National winning trainer Emmet Mullins landed the 2023 edition of this with The Shunter and sends two into battle this year, with the market suggesting this five-year-old gelding is the most likely to prevail. Making his debut for the yard last time out in a hot Galway handicap, he went down by just three-quarters of a length and should strip fitter for what was his first run in 459 days.
Dawn Rising
- Trainer – Jospeh O’Brien
- Jockey – Tom Marquand
- Sire – Galileo
With two Melbourne Cup wins, Joseph O’Brien knows what it takes to claim a major staying handicap. Like Emmet Mullins, O’Brien is double-handed, with this son of the great Galileo leading the charge. Only two pounds higher than when claiming the Queen Alexandria Stakes at Royal Ascot, he caught the eye when running on into fifth in the Irish version of this race last time.
Ndaawi
- Trainer – Gordon Elliott
- Jockey – Jamie Spencer
- Sire – Cracksman
The man who most often chases Willie Mullins home in the race to be crowned Irish Champion Trainer sends this likeable dual-purpose star into battle. An excellent third in the 2024 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, Ndaawi has won two of seven starts on the level but needs to improve on his most recent flat outing in the Ascot Stakes.
The Shunter
- Trainer – Emmet Mullins
- Jockey – James Doyle
- Sire – Stowaway
Rounding out the top six Irish hopes is the 2023 hero, The Shunter. Now 11 years of age, this JP McManus star has served the yard with distinction since making the switch from the John O’Clifford operation in 2020. A winner of Grade 3 events over Hurdles and Fences, he came with a relentless late run to deny Pied Piper twelve months ago and returns to defend his crown off a five-pound higher mark.
