Inaugurated 1839 Sponsor Betfred Distance 2m 2f (3,621 metres) | Race type Flat / Thoroughbred Website Newmarket | |
Location Rowley Mile
Newmarket, England | ||
The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 metres), and finishes on the Rowley Mile. It is scheduled to take place each year in October.
Contents
History
"Cesarewitch" is an anglicised version of Tsesarevich, the title of the heir to the throne in Imperial Russia. The race was named in honour of Tsesarevich Alexander (later Tsar Alexander II), after he donated £300 to the Jockey Club.
The event was established in 1839, and the inaugural running was won by Cruiskeen. It was founded in the same year as another major handicap at Newmarket, the Cambridgeshire. The two races came to be known as the Autumn Double.
The Cesarewitch initially took place before the Cambridgeshire, but the schedule was later reversed and it is now held two weeks after the other race. Three horses completed the double in the 19th century — Rosebery (1876), Foxhall (1881) and Plaisanterie (1885) — but the feat has been rarely attempted since then.
The race was formerly staged during Newmarket's Champions' Day meeting in mid-October and became part of a new fixture called Future Champions Day in 2011. In 2014 the Cesarewitch was separated from Future Champions Day, which was moved back a week in the calendar, and in 2015 it returned to the Saturday of the new Future Champions Festival.
Winners since 1974
a b The 1986 and 1999 editions were held on Newmarket's July Course over a slightly shorter distance.
Earlier winners
1 The 1857 running finished as a three-way dead-heat, but it was decided by a run-off.
2 The 1893 race was a dead-heat and has joint winners.