Middle Park Stakes
| Group 1 race | |
| Location |
Rowley Mile Newmarket, England |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1866 |
| Race type | Flat / Thoroughbred |
| Sponsor | Juddmonte |
| Website | Newmarket |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 6f (1,207 metres) |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Straight |
| Qualification | Two-year-old colts |
| Weight | 9 st 0 lb |
| Purse | £180,000 (2016) 1st: £102,078 |
The Middle Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.
The event was founded by William Blenkiron, and it is named after his stud at Eltham. It was established in 1866, and was initially titled the Middle Park Plate. It was originally open to horses of either gender.
The race was formerly staged during Newmarket's Cambridgeshire Meeting in late September or early October. It was restricted to colts in 1987. It became part of a new fixture called Future Champions Day in 2011.
From 2015, the Middle Park Stakes was moved from Future Champions Day and brought forward two weeks, returning to the Cambridgeshire meeting, to avoid a clash with the similar Dewhurst Stakes.
The Middle Park Stakes was added to the Breeders' Cup Challenge series in 2012. The winner now earns an automatic invitation to compete in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint.
The leading horses from the Middle Park Stakes sometimes go on to compete in the following season's 2,000 Guineas. The first to win both was Prince Charlie (1871–72), and the most recent was Rodrigo de Triano (1991–92).
Leading jockey (6 wins):
Leading trainer (4 wins):
Leading owner (6 wins):
a Three Valleys finished first in 2003, but he was subsequently disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance.
* The 1940 running took place at Nottingham.
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