Younger readers may have never even heard of the ‘Autumn Double’ but, in its heyday, the challenge of coupling the winners of the two major late-season handicaps run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket, namely the Cesarewitch and the Cambridgeshire, filled many column inches in the racing press. Of course, both races still exist, albeit that the Cambridgeshire now precedes the Cesarewitch, and both are as competitive as ever, but coverage of the Autumn Double, as a betting medium, is nothing like it once was.
Of course, the Cambridgeshire is run over 1 mile 1 furlong and the Cesarewitch, two weeks later, over 2 miles 2 furlongs, so any horse that attempts that Autumn Double must have tremendous resilience and powers of recovery, not to mention versatility with regards to distance. Way back, in the late Victorian period, three horses did manage to win both races, but few have tried since. That said, the admirable seven-year-old Nanton, trained by Jim Goldie, in East Renfrewshire, finished a never-nearer third in the Cambridgeshire and ninth in the Cesarewitch in 2009.
Obviously, it is easier for a jockey to complete the Autumn Double but, even so, few have done so. In fact, the last rider to do so was Adam Beschizza, who moved to the United States at the end of 2017 and subsequently became the leading jockey at Fair Grounds Race Course, in New Orleans, Louisiana, in only his second full year Stateside. On the other side of the Atlantic, in 2015, Beschizza steered Third Time Lucky, trained by Richard Fahey, to a short-head victory in the Cambridgeshire and, two weeks later, won the Cesarewitch by the same margin on Grumeti, trained by Alan King. Anyone who latched onto his rare feat was rewarded with combined odds of 764/1, at starting price.