Which trainer has won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes most often?

Run annually over a mile and a half at Ascot in July and open to horses aged three years and upwards, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes has the distinction of being the most prestigious, and valuable, all-aged Flat race in Britain. Indeed, with guaranteed prize money of £1.2 million, it is the second most valuable Flat race, of any description, behind only the Derby.

Established, as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Festival of Britain Stakes, in 1951, the race has been one by some of the truly great middle-distance performers of the modern era, including Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar, Dancing Brave, Reference Point and Harbinger. Two of that illustrious septet, Shergar, in 1981, and Harbinger, in 2010, were saddled by Sir Michael Stoute who, with six wins, is the most successful trainer in the history of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Fresh from facile victories in the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh, Shergar was equally untroubled to land odds of 2/5 at Ascot, drawing clear in the closing stages under Walter Swinburn to beat fellow three-year-old Madam Gay by four lengths. After a 12-year hiatus, Stoute won his second King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with the five-year-old colt Opera House, owned by Sheikh Mohammed, in 1993.

In 2002, Stoute produced Golan, who had won the 2,000 Guineas as a three-year-old, but had been absent since finishing unplaced in the Japan Cup the previous November, to win on his seasonal debut and, in 2009, saddled an unprecedented 1-2-3, courtesy of Conduit, Tartan Bearer and Ask. More recently, he has added to his winning tally with Harbinger, who won by an impressive 11 lengths in 2010, but sadly never raced again after fracturing a cannon bone on the gallops in Newmarket, and Poet's Word who, in 2018, beat his marginally better-fancied stable companion Crystal Ocean by a neck, with the pair nine lengths clear, after what the 'Racing Post' described as a 'stirring battle'.

Which active trainer has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire Handicap?

Run over nine furlongs on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in late September, with a maximum field size of 35, the Cambridgeshire is one of the most competitive handicaps of the British Flat racing season. Together with another 'cavalry charge', the Cesarewitch, which is run over two and a quarter miles on the same course two weeks later, the Cambridgeshire comprises the historic 'Autumn Double' which, in the days of yesteryear, attracted floods of ante-post money.

The ante-post market may not be what it was, but the Cambridgeshire remains as fiercely competitive as ever and, as such, is a fiendishly difficult race to win. In the current training ranks, five-time champion trainer John Gosden has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire, with a total of five winners, four of which were three-year-olds.

Gosden sent out his first Cambridgeshire winner, Halling, from Stanley House Stables in Newmarket in 1994. Sent off 8/1 co-favourite, the three-year-old was always prominent and stayed on strongly in the closing stages to win by 2½ lengths under Lanfranco 'Frankie' Dettori. With the benefit of hindsight, the Diesis colt must have been the proverbial 'good thing', off a handicap mark of 93, on that occasion; shortly afterwards he was transferred to the fledgling Godolphin and went on to win five Group 1 races, inclduing the Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International Stakes twice apiece.

After a 13-year hiatus, by which time he had moved to his current base, Clarehaven Stables, also in Newmarket, Gosden saddled his second Cambridgeshire winner, Pipedreamer, who justified favourtism in the 2007 renewal. He followed up with the four-year-old Tazeez in 2008 and, more recently, has added Wissahickon, in 2018, and Lord North, in 2019, to his winning tally.

Jamie Snowden profile

With over 400 winners to his name, Jamie Snowden has enjoyed plenty of success since obtaining his license in 2008, including two Cheltenham Festival winners. 

Jamie has been involved in horse racing from an early age, through a mixture of Pony Club, hunting and point-to-point racing. During his school time, he rode out for Nigel Twiston-Davies and during his gap year he went over to New Zealand to work as an Assistant Trainer for a flat yard. 

He followed this with a career in the army, where he cotninued his affiliation with horse racing by competing in the Grand Military Gold Cup and Royal Artillery Gold Cup, winning both races a record equalling four times as a jockey. 

After spending a year as pupil assistant for champion trainer Paul Nicholls, Jamie switched to Seven Barrows to become assistant trainer and amateur jockey for trainer Nicky Henderson, before taking out his trainer license in 2008. 

It took him three years to land a Listed winner, but the big winners kept coming after that, including a win at the 2014 Cheltenham Festival winner, when Present View landed the Novice Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Festival. He landed his second Cheltenham Festival winner in 2023, with You Wear It Well winning the Jack De Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

Last season, Jamie had his best season to date in terms of prize money won, largely thanks to Datsalrightgino winning the Coral Gold Cup. He had plenty of other memorable winners during the season, including www.racingclub.com syndicate horse Farceur Du Large winning both the Grand Military Gold Cup and the Royal Artillery Gold Cup - a fitting winner for the trainer having been so prolific in the race as a jockey.