Last Ran: 11th July 2009

The John Smiths Cup is held at York racecourse and is the country's oldest commercially sponsored race having been sponsored by John Smiths since the 1960's.

The race is a heritage handicap, it covers a distance of 1 mile 208 yards and is open to horses of three years of age and above.

The race is generally run at a sound pace, which has often resulted in times slightly faster than course standard. In an ideal world, you want a horse relatively unexposed, aged three or four who has been running consistently at this level.

Richard Fahey has always done extremely well here and it's always wise to pay particular attention to his handicap runners who, when the money is down, rarely run a bad race.

• Irish Oaks (12th July 2009)
• Grand Prix de Paris (14th July 2009)
• King George VI and QE Stakes (25th July 2009)
• York Stakes (25th July 2009)
• International Stakes (25th July 2009)