Hungerford Stakes heads a festival Saturday at Newbury
The Group 2 seven-furlong contest tops the bill before Jessie J closes the day on stage
Newbury’s Hungerford Weekend reaches its peak on Saturday, a week before the Flat season heads to York for the Ebor Festival, and the racing centrepiece is the Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes. The Group 2, run over seven furlongs on the straight course for three-year-olds and upwards, has been a fixture since 1949 and regularly attracts a smart cast of milers and sharp sprinters testing their speed at the trip.
A festival feel, and a competitive puzzle
It is a raceday built for a wide audience. The action on the track is followed by a live headline performance from Jessie J, with Tinie Tempah having opened the weekend on the Friday, giving the meeting a festival feel to match the quality of the card.
With the going, final field and jockey bookings all to be confirmed at declarations, the Hungerford Stakes offers a genuine black-type puzzle and a natural companion piece to the sprinting action up north on the same afternoon.
The essentials:
- When: Saturday 15 August 2026, Newbury (feature off ~15:10 BST)
- Race: Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes – Group 2, 7f (straight), 3yo+
- Prize: £165,000 (Group 2); ~£93,572 to the winner
- Off-track: live concert from Jessie J (Sat); Tinie Tempah opens the weekend (Fri 14 Aug)
- TV: Live on ITV (ITV1)
Updated 15.08, [16:35]: Hungerford Stakes result. Coppull (15-2), trained by Clive Cox and ridden by Hector Crouch, powered home from the front to win the Group 2 Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes at Newbury. Stepping up to seven furlongs for the first time after a fourth in the July Cup, the David Armstrong-owned three-year-old beat Prince Of India by a length and a quarter, with 5-2 favourite Symbol Of Honour a further three-quarters of a length back in third. It was Cox’s first top-level winner in six years – he also won the race with Lethal Force in 2012 – and completed a hat-trick on the card for Crouch. Nine ran on good-to-firm ground, with £93,572 to the winner.
