Cumberland Lodge Stakes Guide 2021

Heading the early markets for Owens Burrows and Shadwell Estate is 4 year old Hukum. The son of Sea The Stars rose to prominence last season with a comeback win in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Despite losing a shoe and suffering a minor cut mid race, he readily defied a handicap mark of 90 and seamlessly made the transition to group company on his next start to take a Group 3.

Well fancied for the St Leger he only managed to come 5th to round out last season. This season he’s been far busier having run 6 times already and notching 3 wins.

Taking a listed race early in the season he’s since captured a brace of Group 3’s at around 14 furlongs.

Last seen dropping back in trip to 12 furlongs for the September Stakes he was unable to justify odds on favouritism when seemingly outstayed by Hamish.

He has solid form but has been beaten over this trip at this level already and might be better over further.

Title comes to Ascot having won in handicap company last time out. The 3 year old was only seen once last season when beaten by Aleas and took another two attempts to break his maiden.

After finally getting his head in front connections dropped him straight into group company but he found the step up in grade too much, settling for 3rd.

He dropped to listed company but once again bumped into Aleas again and had to settle for 2nd at Hamilton over 11 furlongs.

A gelding operation and a short break seemingly did him wonders and he was well fancied in the market for a handicap at Doncaster where he easily dispatched 5 rivals.

He looked classy last time out and showed that he’s worth a shot at group level. He’s versatile for going conditions and hasn’t been outside of the top 3 all season.

One for Andrew Balding in Alounak, who’s not won at this level since taking a race at Baden-Baden over 10 furlongs.

He struggled to get himself back in from after that but ran a screamer to be 2nd in the Hardwicke Stakes last year.

His form took a major dip off the back of that and he was gelded at the end of last season.

It seemingly brought about some improvement as he managed to win a handicap at Haydock off a mark of 102 back in early July.

He’s put in some strong efforts since to be 4th at this level at Goodwood, a massive 3rd in the Ebor and then 2nd in a Listed contest last time out.

His best run came in the Ebor which could suggest that he wants a stiffer test of stamina these days but he’s in the best form he’s been in for some time.

Hughie Morrison’s Quickthorn is another runner here who contested the Ebor, Quickthorn running a brilliant race to be a narrow 2nd to Sonnyboyliston.

The form of that has been boosted since with Sonnyboyliston winning the Irish St Leger and Quickthorn easily winning a conditions race.

He’s already notched a course and distance win this season when winning the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes when cutting through deep ground to justify favouritism. However he moved up to Group 3 level earlier in the season and was easily brushed aside by Hukum.

If the rain falls it’ll highly increase his chances to be competitive over this trip but he looked a little out of his depth behind Hukum at York last month.

After having one of the most consistent 3 year old campaigns last season, Ilaraab struck up a sequence of five wins for William Haggas.

Winning a brace of novice races before a trio of handicaps, despite swipes from the assessor.

He returned to the course still in fine form this season when winning yet another handicap over a mile and a half at York back in May, but he’s since tailed off form wise.

Only managing to come 8th in the Hardwicke Stakes, he was then well beaten in the Ebor despite going off joint favourite.

He only managed to beat two rivals home and Tom Marquand brought him home in his own time from the furlong pole.

He was last seen being beaten by Solid Stone at Newbury but couldn’t quite get to the front two to finish 3rd.

He looked a real force last season but has struggled to train on as a 4 year old, anything close to his 3 year old best would put him in the mix however.

A very lightly raced 5 year old, Alignak for Michael Stoute has only been seen racing 9 times in his career.

It wasn’t until last year that he managed to get up a sequence of runs together and showed himself well.

An easy handicap win opened proceedings off a lowly mark of 89 and he then went close in listed and group company, the latter not far behind Hukum.

But Alignak managed to round out the season with a listed win over 12.5 furlongs at Chester.

Things haven’t been straight forward again for him this season and he’s only been seen once this year when coming 4th to Invite in the same race he won at Chester last season.

With a run under his belt he should fare better but he’s clearly had his troubles.

A brilliant 2 year old for connections, he won a Group 3 race on only his second career outing and managed to regain the winning thread as a 3 year old when winning a Group 3 at Newmarket.

Last season he notched another win at Newmarket when taking a listed race with ease on his seasonal comeback. He hasn’t managed to win since but has only been seen twice this season.

Returning in May for the Yorkshire Cup, he looked out of his depth in the Grade 2 and only managed to beat a single rival home. He then had a mammoth break to be 3rd behind Invite and Alounak.

He’s entitled to have needed that run and was going well until fading late on, he’s looked well above listed quality in the past but would need to recapture that form to get seriously involved here.

Currently at the foot of the betting, Eagles By Day is trained by David O’Meara and hasn’t managed to win a race since a surprise win on stable debut last season.

It was only his second career success after taking his maiden, he managed to just get up to beat Communique over 14 furlongs.

He’s since been tried over 12 furlongs right the way up to 18 furlongs but has failed to finish better than 4th.

This season has seen him be beaten in a Group 3 at Goodwood, a poor showing in the Ebor and only beating one rival home in the Doncaster Cup behind Stradivarius.

He looks unlikely to play a major role.