All Weather Flat Course
Race number four on the All-Weather Championships Finals card at Newcastle is the Fillies’ and Mares’ race.
As with many of the Championship races on Good Friday, the prize fund for this race is £150,000. This means that it always attracts an ultra-competitive field, bringing runners from the top UK and Irish yards as well as a number of French raiders.
This is the only race on Finals Day run over seven furlongs, with the Sprint and 3-Year-Old races one furlong shorter and the Mile one furlong longer.
AW Fillies' & Mares' Champs Course Map (All Weather Flat Course)
AW Fillies' & Mares' Champs Past Winners
| Year | Winner | SP | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Cloud Cover | 10/1 | James Tate | Clifford Lee |
| 2023 | Queen Aminatu | 6/4 | William Haggas | Cieren Fallon |
| 2022 | Highfield Princess | 15/8 | John Quinn | Jason Hart |
| 2021 | Pholas | 25/1 | George Boughey | Hollie Doyle |
| 2020 | Abandoned | - | - | - |
| 2019 | Heavenly Holly | 9/1 | Hugo Palmer | Ryan Moore |
| 2018 | Diagnostic | 7/2 | William Haggas | James Doyle |
| 2017 | Realtra | 6/1 | Roger Varian | Andrea Atzeni |
| 2016 | Volunteer Point | 4/1 | Mick Channon | Graham Gibbons |
| 2015 | Fresles | 7/2 | Pia Brandt | Gregory Benoist |
| 2014 | Living The Life | 8/1 | Phil McEntee | Adam Kirby |
About the All-Weather Fillies’ and Mares’ Championship
The Fillies’ and Mares’ Championship race is run on Good Friday of each year at Newcastle, so it can be run in either March or April depending on when Easter falls. The finals had been held at Lingfield Park from 2014 until 2021. The seven furlong race is one of seven which runs on the day. It is part of the All-Weather Championships Finals Day which is the brainchild of the Arena Racing Company who first conceived its development back in 2013 as a method of keeping the flat racing industry rather prevalent over the winter months. In doing so the aim was to keep this aspect of racing popular among the betting community.
The Fillies’ and Mares’ Championship race is open to any horses aged four years and over, and is the final step to claiming the majority of the £150,000 purse up for grabs for this single contest. Preceding the run there are four qualifying races run in from which the winners gain automatic starting places in this one. The others are left vying for the final starting places by way of a performance table over the months from October to March. This requires at least three runs in either Great Britain, France, Ireland or Dubai within this period while maintaining a high enough rating to get a place in this race.
Tough field
The competition for such a highly rated race means that only the very best within the horse racing world have much of a chance to win. In the previous years of this championship race only William Haggas has been successful on more than one occasion as a trainer, which is surely a testament to the tough challenge laid down to the competitors.
Given the race hasn’t been around for long, there haven’t been any real trends emerging that could point punters towards winning bets. Good form at the course should always be noted, as should the form of the trainers sending their runners into the race. But until the race is more established it is difficult to assess the key factors to focus on compared to older races which have a lot more history to go on. One stat that has developed in this race’s short history is the success of the younger horses, with four-year-olds winning eight of the ten races to date.
Trainers and jockeys who have had a good time of things on all-weather tracks, and at Newcastle in particular, should also be your starting point. But following the market movers in the days running up to the race could also indicate where the smart money should go.