Inaugurated in 1834 and named after the official residence of the British monarch until 1837, in the City of Westminster, London, the St. James’s Palace Stakes is a prestigious and valuable contest, currently worth £600,000 in total prize money. Currently staged on the opening day of Royal Ascot, in June each year, the race is run over 7 furlongs and 213 yards and restricted to three-year-old colts. As such, the St. James’s Palace Stakes often brings together horses that previously contested the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and/or the French and Irish equivalents, at Longchamp and the Curragh, respectively. Consequently, it should come as no great surprise to learn that, since 1988, the St. James’s Palace Stakes has borne the highest, Group 1 status.
Aidan O’Brien, who has been perennial Irish Champion Flat Trainer since 1999, not to mention British Champion Flat Trainer six times since 2001, is the leading trainer in the history of the St. James’s Palace Stakes. All told, O’Brien has saddled nine winners, the most recent of which was the brilliant Siyouni colt Paddington, who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, made mincemeat of the 2,000 Guineas winner, Chaldean, at Ascot and subsequently won the Coral-Eclipse and the Sussex Stakes. In fact, he was the fourth highest-rated three-year-old in Europe at the end of the 2023 campaign, according to Timeform.
Looking back two-and-a bit decades, O’Brien first won the St. James’s Palace Stakes in 2000 with the so-called ‘Iron Horse’, Giant’s Causeway, ridden by his then stable jockey Mick Kinane. A tough, thoroughly resolute son of Storm Cat, Giant’s Causeway had to pull out all the stops at Ascot, rallying gamely close home to win by a head. Nevertheless, his five Group 1 wins, which also included the Coral-Eclipse, Sussex Stakes, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes, were sufficient to make him Cartier Horse of the Year; he was rated 132 by Timeform, 4lb higher than Paddington.