Weekend ratings review: Timeform reaction to Newmarket July Festival

Scandinavia took his Timeform master rating up to 118+ from 104 in winning the Bahrain Trophy on Thursday. Strong in the betting and wearing first-time cheekpieces, the 11/8 favourite produced a powerful performance to beat Nightime Dancer by eight-and-a-quarter lengths.

The Timeform report notes: "He obviously enters calculations for the St Leger, though it's interesting that he's also entered in the Goodwood Cup, this effort putting him well to the fore in terms of ratings (receives a stone wfa) and sure to be suited by the step up to 2m."

He is as low as 8/1 for the Goodwood Cup, although the yard also supplies current even-money favourite Illinois, while in the Betfred St Leger he's 4/1 second favourite with Sky Bet and Paddy Power behind stablemate and dual Derby winner Lambourn. Interestingly, his revised rating is only 4lb below that of his near-neighbour.

Friday's Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes has been won by some good horses over the years and in the 2025 renewal Charlie Appleby's Distant Storm edged out Constitution River by a short-head, the pair three-and-a-half lengths clear of the winner's stablemate, Catallus, in third.

The colts that fought out the finish both earned Timeform ratings of 92 and, while Distant Storm's has the Timeform 'small p' attached, indicating he's likely to improve, Constitution River was given a 'large P', signifying a horse who is capable of much better.

A son of Wootton Basset from the family of Wonderful Tonight, the Timeform report on his performance noted: "Bred to be smart, went down narrowly but looked at least as good a prospect as the winner, not so obviously ready and with much more about him physically; tracked pace, shaken up 2f out, ran green, disputed lead final 1f, ran on, beaten on the nod; an exciting prospect, sure to win races and potentially a leading 2-y-o if all goes well."

Appleby also had the edge in Saturday's bet365 Superlative Stakes in which Saba Desert drew a length-and-a-quarter clear of O'Brien's Italy in a race in which the errant passage taken by Venetian Lace made the finish a tad messy.

The winner went into the Group 2 contest with a rating of 86P and now sits on 106p. It's the same mark that Native Trail hit when winning the 2021 renewal, but some way adrift of the 121+ recorded by City Of Troy in 2023 and Ancient Truth's 112+ last year.

However, he looks an exciting colt, the Timeform reporter saying: "He's a really taking sort and clearly an exciting prospect, sure to make an impact in some of the best 2-y-o races for the rest of the campaign."

Finally, No Half Measures provided the story of the meeting in winning Saturday’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai July Cup.

Her shock 66/1 success gave trainer Richard Hughes a first top-flight winner since taking out a licence. He also followed Freddy Head in becoming only the second person to ride and train a July Cup winner.

And while 114 is the lowest winning Timeform rating over the last decade, the daughter of Cable Bay did produce a career-best performance, improving by 3lb. Harry Angel’s 117+ in 2017 is the next lowest.

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