Doncaster Cup 2026: result from the world’s oldest race
Caballo De Mar answered every doubt about his stomach for the fight on Town Moor.
Caballo De Mar, trained by George Scott and ridden by Oisin Murphy, bounced back from two flat efforts to land the Betfred Howard Wright Doncaster Cup at 5/6 favourite. He beat Beylerbeyi by a length and a quarter, with Ascending third.
How the race was run
The Doncaster Cup lost its likely favourite before the off. Aidan O’Brien’s Queenstown, the highest-rated horse in the field, was withdrawn on a self-certificate after going off his feed. There was drama in the preliminaries too, as Emmet Mullins’s Winday worked himself into a sweat and never got competitive, trailing in last of seven.
Caballo De Mar had looked a shadow of himself in his last two starts. He was virtually pulled up in the Ascot Gold Cup, and only fourth as favourite in the Lonsdale Cup at York. Connections scoped him afterwards and found nothing wrong, settling instead on a theory that he simply dislikes a truly run race.
A more even gallop on Town Moor proved the point. Murphy sent him on a furlong out, and though the lead shortened in the closing strides, he always had enough in hand.
Reaction
“Today was much more of an even set-up for him, so I think it’s more down to circumstance than anything,” said Scott. “His last two races have been in a Gold Cup against two of the best stayers we’ve seen, and last time at York they went a hell of a gallop and he was in the thick of it the whole way. York is a funny track, they can misfire, and he did.”
Scott confirmed the horse will now defend his title in the Prix du Cadran, on the undercard of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend at ParisLongchamp, where he is unbeaten in two starts. “He loves Longchamp, he loves the tempo of the races and two-mile-four is right up his street. We just have to hope Scandinavia doesn’t turn up there.”
A race with 260 years of history
Betfred Gents Day carried the weight of history on Friday. The Doncaster Cup is the oldest race in Britain still run under official rules, first contested in 1766, ten years before the St Leger itself. It forms the final leg of the Stayers’ Triple Crown alongside the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup. Stradivarius, a two-time winner of this race in 2019 and 2021, remains the benchmark stayer for comparison whenever the Cup comes round.
Key facts
- Result: 1st Caballo De Mar (5/6F), 2nd Beylerbeyi (5/1, beaten 1¼l), 3rd Ascending (13/2, beaten 3l)
- SP / going: Good (Good to Soft in places)
- Distance / prize: 2m1f197y; £93,572 to the winner
- Trainer / jockey: George Scott / Oisin Murphy
- Non-runner: Queenstown (highest-rated in the field), self-certificate, off feed
- Next target: Prix du Cadran, ParisLongchamp, Arc weekend
For the rest of Friday’s Betfred Gents Day and the weekend ahead, see our Park Hill Stakes result.
