Dano-Mast, Royal Experiment, Peas and Carrots, Bank Of Burden and Good Fortune. What do they have in common? Well, they have all won the Danish Jockey Club Cup (L) twice. Bank Of Burden even three times. On Saturday another horse gets its name on the impressive list of winners of the Jockey Club Cup (L), when the first Scandinavian feature race of the year is run at Klampenborg. Hans Andersen has the chance to win for the second year in a row.
THREE WINS IN THE WAKE OF A DUBAI STAY.
Stald Trick Or Treat’s Bank Of Burden (Hawk Wing) is the only horse in this century to have won the Danish Jockey Club Cup three times – and in a row at that.
He was trained by Niels Petersen and on all three occasions he was ridden by Per-Anders Gråberg.
And – the recipe was the same every time. Bank Of Burden wintered in Dubai, where he ran a few times without making much of a stir. But back in Scandinavia, where Bank Of Burden made his Scandinavian seasonal debut in the Jockey Club Cup all three times, he was unbeatable.
In his 5-year racing career Bank Of Burden won seven Group 3 races, earned more than eight million kroner and reached a maximum handicap of 95.
In the 2014 edition of the Jockey Club Cup Bank Of Burden won ahead of Jubilance (Oratorio), who three years later, after a very exciting finish, won the race himself ahead of Falconet (Falco). Both were owned by Lone-Kaj Nielsen.
Both Jubilance and Falconet reached a maximum handicap of 93.
A DUBAI STAY IMPROVES THE CHANCE OF WINNING THE JOCKEY CLUB CUP.
Bank Of Burden is not the only horse to have come straight from a winter in Dubai to win the Jockey Club Cup.
So did Havemann’s and Stald Shaker’s Good Fortune (Appel Au Maitre) in 2023 and 2024. In 2023 after the fine win in the Zabeel Turf at Meydan.
The now deceased Good Fortune was trained by Søren Jensen, and in Scandinavia he also won Stockholms Stora Pris (Gr.3) in 2024. He earned a good four million kroner, and he reached a maximum handicap of 94.
And last year we got yet another winner who had wintered in Dubai, when Lulu Tøpholm’s Frankel son Hans Andersen won the Jockey Club Cup ahead of Silver Legend (Dark Angel) and Greenland (Saxon Warrior).
Hans Andersen and Silver Legend are on the start list again this year.
COMMANDING WINS FOR DANO-MAST.
The legendary Dano-Mast (Unfuwain) won the Danish Jockey Club Cup (L) in 2000 and 2001, and no one has won the race as commandingly as he did.
In Scandinavia Dano-Mast won both the Stockholm Cup International and the Scandinavian Open Championship, at the time both Group 3 races. But it is above all for his achievements abroad that we will remember Dano-Mast.
In France Dano-Mast won two Group 2 races. The Prix Jean de Chaudenay at Saint Cloud and the Prix Dollar at Longchamp.
Dano-Mast’s greatest performance was probably a close third place in The Hong Kong Cup (Gr.1) in 2002. It earned him 1.9 million kroner – still the biggest prize won by a Danish-trained horse.
When Queen Azteca (Sharp Azteca) won the UAE Oaks (Gr.3) at Meydan in 2025, the winner’s prize was just under 1.5 million kroner.
Dano-Mast was trained by Flemming Poulsen, and he earned 5.6 million kroner in his career. Dano-Mast had a maximum handicap of 97.
Another horse that won the Jockey Club Cup two years running was the Nagell-Erichsen family’s Royal Experiment (Royal Academy), who won in 2004 and 2005.
In 2003 Royal Experiment also won Marit Sveaas Minneløp (Gr.3).
He was trained by Wido Neuroth and in his two wins in the Jockey Club Cup he was ridden by Fredrik Johanson. Royal Experiment had a maximum handicap of 93 and later became a stallion in both Norway and Denmark.
THE JOCKEY CLUB CUP WAS ALSO AMONG PEAS AND CARROTS’ MANY WINS.
The celebrated and handsome Peas And Carrots (Final Appearance) won the Danish Jockey Club Cup twice. In 2009 and again in 2011 as the oldest winner of the race in this century.
Omar Zawawi’s Danish Derby winner from 2006, whose big wins also include Stockholms Stora Pris (Gr.3) in 2008 and the Scandinavian Open Championship (Gr.3) in 2009, was for most of his career in training with Lennart Reuterskiöld jr.
Peas And Carrots earned a good five million kroner in his career, and he had a maximum handicap of 95.
Peas And Carrots is one of the two Danish Derby winners to have won the Jockey Club Cup in this century, The other is Sibelius.
The Strecker brothers’ Federico (Known Fact), who won the Danish Derby in 1994, won the Jockey Club Cup in 1996 and 1998.
Chess Racing’s Sibelius (Night Shift), who won the Danish Derby in 2004, won the Jockey Club Cup in 2006.
Sibelius became a dual classic winner when he also won the Danish St. Leger as a 3-year-old, and he was just a short head away from becoming a Triple Crown winner. Sibelius had a maximum handicap of 91.
Chess Racing got another winner of the Jockey Club Cup when Moomba (Australia) won surprisingly in 2022.
It stayed in the family. Moomba is out of Beatrice Aurore (Danehill Dancer), who is a younger sister to Sibelius.
Sibelius was trained by Caroline Strömberg and Moomba by her daughter Jessica Long.
Photo Burt Seeger.
THE DANISH JOCKEY CLUB CUP 2016 HAD RUNNERS FROM FOUR COUNTRIES.
The field in the Danish Jockey Club Cup 2016 was exceptionally strong. Among the runners was Chess Racing’s Berling (Montjeu), who the year before had won the Scandinavian Open Championship (Gr.3) ahead of the 2013 Norwegian Derby winner Probably (Danehill Dancer), who was also among the runners.
Chess Racing was also represented by Inaya (High Chaparral), who was unbeaten at Klampenborg after wins the year before in the Danish Oaks and the Danish St. Leger.
And among the runners were furthermore Lone-Kaj Nielsen’s duo Falconet and Jubilance, who would settle the Danish Jockey Club Cup between them the following year, as well as the German Simplon (Rail Link).
FLEMMING VELIN HAS LEFT HIS MARK ON THE JOCKEY CLUB CUP.
It was, however, Flemming Velin’s War Front son Guerre who won ahead of Probably and Berling.
Guerre, whom Flemming Velin had bought from Coolmore, had won twice as a 3-year-old in Ireland and had been beaten only three lengths in the Prix de l’Abbaye (Gr.1) at Longchamp.
Guerre followed up with a win later that year in Tattersall Nickes Minneslöpning (L) at Bro Park, and at the same track he won the Swedish Open Mile (L) the following year.
Guerre had a maximum handicap of 95.
Flemming Velin has not won the Jockey Club Cup since, but several of his very well-bought imports have made their presence felt in the race, and several have been close to winning.
Karin Salling’s King David (Elusive City) won in 2019 ahead of the two Flemming Velin horses Omar Bradley (War Front) and Coat Of Arms (Galileo).
King David stands today as a stallion at Stutteri Hjortebo in a partnership with Stutteri Stork, who also bred him.
He incidentally followed up his win in the Jockey Club Cup in 2019 with wins in Stockholms Stora Pris (Gr.3) and in Grosser Preis von Lotto (Gr.3) in Hamburg.
In 2022 he won Stockholms Stora Pris (Gr.3) again, and he took his fourth Group 3 win when he won Marit Sveaas Minneløp at Øvrevoll the same year.
In his 9-year racing career King David won 17 times, he earned 4.3 million kroner, and he had a maximum handicap of 96.
In 2020 ScanVet Stallions (Flemming Velin) went close again, when Christmas (Galileo) was second.
The race was won by the former Derby runner-up and winner of the Danish St. Leger in 2017, Freestyler (Aerion), who was trained by Jessica Long and reached a maximum handicap of 92.
Christmas was prominent again in the Jockey Club Cup in 2021, but he had to give best to the Cathrine Erichsen-trained Match Maker (Declaration Of War) and King David.
In 2023 Flemming Velin’s Unconquerable (Churchill) was second and in 2024 third. In both years Good Fortune won, as already described.
And last year it became a third place in the Jockey Club, when Majken and Flemming Velin’s Greenland (Saxon Warrior) was third behind Hans Andersen and Silver Legend.
THE DANISH JOCKEY CLUB CUP 2026.
Among this year’s runners is the Flemming Velin-trained Drumroll (Deep Impact), who is a Group 3 winner and a full brother to Saxon Warrior.
And everything points to another top clash in the Jockey Club Cup.
Among the other Danish runners are also last year’s first and second, Hans Andersen and Silver Legend. Hans Andersen comes from a winter stay in Dubai, which experience shows can be very significant. Silver Legend had a satisfactory seasonal debut when second in the Tuborg Åbningsløb.
Add to that Bent Olsen’s Irish Fire (Make Believe), as well as Lea Olsen’s duo Giovanni Torkdahl (Lope De Vega) and Sir Jeffrey (Hunter’s Light).
And from Norway comes trainer Niels Petersen with a very interesting runner.
Stall Zuccini’s (Wibeke Nagell-Erichsen) 4-year-old French-bred Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni) won last year’s Listed contest the Dee Stakes over 2100 metres at Chester, and as a 2-year-old he was second in the Criterium International (Gr.1) at Saint-Cloud.
Mount Kilimanjaro, who makes his Scandinavian debut, was previously owned by the Coolmore team, and he has a converted Scandinavian handicap of 94.
The Nagell-Erichsen family (Wibeke’s brother Einar) won the Jockey Club Cup, as described, a good 20 years ago in 2004 and 2005 with Royal Experiment.
On Saturday Mount Kilimanjaro may very well become the fourth horse in a row to win the Danish Jockey Club Cup after a winter stay in Dubai.
