The Cambridgeshire Meeting 2026 puts seven Group races on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile between Thursday 24 and Saturday 26 September. Five of them are for two-year-olds, so the three days work as a juvenile trial about a fortnight before the Fillies’ Mile and the Dewhurst Stakes. Saturday adds the bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap, the first leg of the Autumn Double.
Declarations and going will be confirmed later in the week. This guide covers the races, not the runners, and we will publish race-level previews once the fields are set.
The programme at a glance
Each day is a seven-race card. Distances are in miles (m) and furlongs (f).
| Day | Race | Grade | Distance | Open to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 24 Sep | Tattersalls Stakes (registered as the Somerville Tattersall Stakes) | Group 3 | 7f | 2yo |
| Thu 24 Sep | Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes | Listed | 2m | 3yo+ |
| Fri 25 Sep | Rosemary Stakes | Listed | 1m | 3yo+ |
| Fri 25 Sep | Princess Royal Stakes | Group 3 | 1m4f | 3yo+ |
| Fri 25 Sep | Rockfel Stakes | Group 2 | 7f | 2yo fillies |
| Fri 25 Sep | Joel Stakes | Group 2 | 1m | 3yo+ |
| Fri 25 Sep | Godolphin Stakes | Listed | 1m4f | 3yo |
| Sat 26 Sep | Royal Lodge Stakes | Group 2 | 1m | 2yo colts and geldings |
| Sat 26 Sep | Cheveley Park Stakes | Group 1 | 6f | 2yo fillies |
| Sat 26 Sep | Middle Park Stakes | Group 1 | 6f | 2yo colts |
| Sat 26 Sep | bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap | Class 2 Heritage Handicap | 1m1f | 3yo+ |
Add up the grades and the meeting has two Group 1s, three Group 2s and two Group 3s, plus three Listed races. Five of the seven Group races are for two-year-olds: the Tattersalls Stakes, Rockfel, Royal Lodge, Cheveley Park and Middle Park.
Saturday: two Group 1s and a heritage handicap
Saturday is the finale, with seven races from 1:22pm to 4:50pm. The Cheveley Park Stakes for fillies and the Middle Park Stakes for colts are both Group 1 races over six furlongs for two-year-olds. Each has a guaranteed £275,000, according to Racing Post. The Middle Park goes off at 3:00pm, and the Cambridgeshire follows at 3:40pm.
Tattersalls backs both Group 1s and the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes, and announced on 11 February 2026 that it had extended that support by two years. The Royal Lodge is a mile for colts and geldings, with a guaranteed £125,000.
The Classic pipeline
The Cheveley Park was first run in 1899, and its winners often carry the form into the next spring. True Love won it in 2025 and then won the Betfred 1000 Guineas on 3 May 2026. Racing Post reported last September that winners of the Middle Park, Cheveley Park and Royal Lodge regularly go on to contest the Classics the following year.
The Cheveley Park also has a deep history: Sir Gordon Richards rode nine winners of it between 1928 and 1953.
Two weeks after Saturday, the Dubai Future Champions Festival on 9 and 10 October brings the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile and the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, the next steps for the best juveniles. That is why we treat this meeting as a guide to the two-year-old picture, not just a set of individual races.
The Autumn Double starts here
The bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap is a Class 2 Heritage Handicap over one mile and one furlong for three-year-olds and older. It was first run in 1839, the same year as the Cesarewitch, and the two became the Autumn Double.
Three horses completed the double between 1876 and 1885. Nobody has done it since, and it is rarely attempted now. The Cesarewitch, over two miles and two furlongs, is on Saturday 10 October at the Dubai Future Champions Festival. Seven horses have won the Cambridgeshire twice, and the most recent to do it was Bronze Angel, in 2012 and 2014.
Friday: two Group 2s and the older-horse depth
Friday has the Rockfel Stakes and the Joel Stakes, the two Group 2 races on the card. The Rockfel is a seven-furlong race for two-year-old fillies with a guaranteed £125,000; the Joel Stakes is a mile for three-year-olds and older.
Around them sit the Group 3 Princess Royal Stakes over a mile and a half, and two Listed races: the Rosemary Stakes over a mile and the Godolphin Stakes over a mile and a half for three-year-olds. It is the day with the widest mix of ages and distances.
Thursday: a juvenile Group 3 and a two-mile test
The opening day has a Group 3 for two-year-olds, the Tattersalls Stakes, run over seven furlongs and registered as the Somerville Tattersall Stakes. It is followed by the Listed Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes over two miles for three-year-olds and older, the longest race of the three days.
What we will track once fields are set
No runner is named here because none is confirmed. When declarations are out, we will look at three things:
- Whether the two Group 1 fields are built around unbeaten juveniles or horses already beaten at Group level.
- The going, which shapes how six-furlong and one-mile races are read.
- How the older horses in the Joel Stakes, the Princess Royal Stakes and the Cambridgeshire line up against each other.
Juvenile races carry less form than older-horse races because the runners have had fewer starts. Once the fields and the going are known, that makes the information we do have more important, not less.
Key times to diarise
- Thursday 24 September: Tattersalls Stakes 3:00pm, Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes 3:35pm
- Friday 25 September: Rockfel Stakes 2:25pm, Joel Stakes 3:00pm
- Saturday 26 September: Royal Lodge Stakes 1:55pm, Middle Park Stakes 3:00pm, bet365 Cambridgeshire Handicap 3:40pm
All times UK. Race-level previews will follow.
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