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The 2018 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot

Thursday 21st June 2018

About the Norfolk Stakes of Royal Ascot

The Norfolk Stakes was established in 1843 and was originally called the New Stakes. It was renamed in 1973 to honor the 16th Duke of Norfolk, and became a Group 2 race in 2006. The Norfolk Stakes is staged on day 3 of the five day Royal Ascot meet in June, and the race is open to 2-year-olds at a distance of 1006 meters (5 furlongs).

The Norfolk Stakes attracts some of the best thoroughbred sprinters in Great Britain and Ireland. Arguably the finest racehorse to have taken the Norfolk was 2001 winner Johannesburg, who never lost a race as a 2-year-old and took four Group 1 races in his career.

Although the Norfolk Stakes is a rather frenetic and short race, a majority of winners have emerged from the first three in betting. However, the favourite underperforms by nearly 405 on the value index. A sound betting strategy may be to look for each-way value at the top of the market among horses likely to place, but priced above 4/1. However, note that the last three winners have gone off at odds of 12-1, 8-1 and Sioux Nation won the 2017 edition at 14-1 odds.

Jockey Lester Piggott won the race a record nine times over a 30-year span starting in the early 1960’s. Since 1984, just two sprinters have broken the 1 minute mark with No Way Never (2013) in :58.80, Baitha Alga (2014) in :59.81 and Waterloo Bridge (2015) in :59.98.