Timeform's man at the course David Cleary with his early thoughts on Mill Stream's July Cup victory.
Any hope that the Commonwealth Cup hero Inisherin might be able to take the humdrum sprinting division by storm once he tackled the pick of the older six-furlong performers was dashed at the first time of asking. Sent off a hot favourite for the July Cup, Inisherin could manage only fifth, as the finish was fought out by the placed runners from the Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Ascot third Mill Stream turned the tables on the runner-up that day Swingalong, wearing down the strong-travelling filly late on, the pair pulling a length and three quarters clear of third-home Vandeek. While the first and second look to have produced career-bests, the form overall is surely some way below that of the best runnings of the race in recent years.
Vandeek stepped up on his below-par reappearance run, behind Inisherin at Haydock, without quite matching the form of his win in the Middle Park. As for Inisherin, he looked to have been sweating beforehand, but was pretty relaxed in the preliminaries. He was close enough over a furlong out but couldn't pick up. Judged on his overall record, this will hopefully prove a blip.
Inisherin wasn't the only disappointment. River Tiber, dropping back to six furlongs, and Kinross, on his second start of the campaign, were both a fair way below form. And although his Ascot form had been boosted by the first and second, the dual Jubilee winner Khaadem predictably failed to repeat the effort for the second year running.
