Champagne Stakes 2026: preview

By RB Editor · Updated: September 10, 2026

Doncaster’s leading juvenile trial shares St Leger day, and its winner usually has next year’s Guineas on the mind.

While the St Leger dominates Saturday’s headlines, the Champagne Stakes quietly does its own important job earlier on the card. It sorts out the season’s leading two-year-old colts and geldings.

A race with a long history

Founded in 1823, the Champagne Stakes is run over seven furlongs and six yards. Juveniles carry 9st 2lb, with a 3lb penalty for any Group 1 or Group 2 winner. This year’s race carries £150,000 in total prize money, with £85,065 going to the winner.

The road to the Guineas

Winners of this race often turn up again in the Dewhurst Stakes next month. History urges caution before backing one to follow up, though. Only a couple of Champagne winners in the last decade have gone on to actually win there too.

Chaldean managed the rare double in 2022, before going on to Guineas success the following spring. He remains the exception rather than the rule.

This year’s field

Six have been declared. Charlie Appleby’s Desert Castle, a colt by Frankel, heads the market at around 10/11. He arrives on the back of an unbeaten record and a Rising Star tag from American bloodstock press.

Andrew Balding’s Gentle Hurricane, runner-up in the Group 3 Acomb, is the clearest form pick among the chasing group at around 9/2. Aidan O’Brien saddles the sole Ballydoyle runner in Sergei Diaghilev, a Listed winner, at around 6/1.

Breacher, a winner last time out for William Muir and Chris Grassick, and K R Burke’s Rosberg round out the market’s second tier. Oliver Cole’s French raider Silver Dominion completes the six at the biggest price. The going is Good to Soft, and the race is live on ITV.

Key runners

Best available prices; check before betting. Non-runners: 0 of 6 declared.

For the rest of what’s coming during Doncaster’s St Leger Festival, see our full week-ahead round-up.