The Autumn Double: why Cambridgeshire and Cesarewitch still matter
Only three horses in nearly two centuries have completed racing’s toughest autumn double.
The Autumn Double: why Cambridgeshire and Cesarewitch still matter
Only three horses in nearly two centuries have completed racing’s toughest autumn double.
Two of Newmarket’s oldest big-field handicaps share more than a birthday. The Cambridgeshire and the Cesarewitch were both founded in 1839, and together they form what racing still calls the Autumn Double.
A pairing that swapped order
The Cesarewitch was originally run before the Cambridgeshire, but the order was later reversed. Today the Cambridgeshire comes first, with the Cesarewitch following two weeks later on the same course.
A feat almost nobody completes
Winning both races in the same season has happened only three times in history. Rosebery managed it in 1876, Foxhall in 1881, and Plaisanterie in 1885. Nobody has repeated the feat since.
Two very different tests
The Cambridgeshire is run over a straight mile and a furlong on the Rowley Mile. It is famous for a dip a furlong from the finish. The Cesarewitch could hardly be more different, a stamina test of two miles and two furlongs. It also finishes on the same Rowley Mile straight, though it starts from a very different part of the course.
Our full trends breakdown looks at how these two courses shape the draw differently.
Where the name comes from
The Cesarewitch takes its name from an anglicised version of tsesarevich. That was the title once given to the heir of the Russian imperial throne. It honours Tsesarevich Alexander, later Alexander II, who donated £300 to the Jockey Club.
Why the double is so hard to call
The draw makes the double genuinely difficult to predict. Between 2016 and 2023, every Cambridgeshire winner came from stall 21 or higher, a strong high-draw pattern. That trend broke in 2024, when Liberty Lane won from stall 4, a reminder that course biases can shift.
In the Cesarewitch, the opposite has held true, with 14 of the last 23 winners drawn 13 or lower. Finding a horse suited to both extremes is a large part of why the double stays so rare.
This year’s Cambridgeshire runs on Saturday. See our full week’s coverage for the latest.
