July Cup report and replay: No Half Measures shock winner

The shock success marked a notable achievement for Richard Hughes who rode Oasis Dream to victory in the Group One contest in 2003 and trains the 2025 heroine.

Second in a Listed race at Haydock in May when last seen, the daughter of Cable Bay was in front inside the final furlong under Neil Callan and was to stay there despite the best efforts of Big Mojo (12/1).

The runner-up fought all the way to the line but could never reel-in the leader, going down by a neck.

Run To Freedom (40/1) was another to run a huge race at a big price in third, just ahead of the slow-starting Believing.

Notable Speech was sent off the 85/40 favourite but having looked a big danger a furlong-and-a-half out, he drifted left and faded into fifth.

Inisherin was withdrawn at the start on veterinary advice.

A jubilant Hughes said: “That is brilliant. Disappointments when you are training are very hard. The highs don’t meet the lows if you know what I mean. I got a bear hug off William Buick and he caught my lip. We fancied the filly Mood Queen and she finished last and that was excruciating. The highs aren’t even high enough, if you know what I mean. We are coping, and I’m coping with it better now than I used to. I was very lucky that I had the Hannon and Abdullah job. I was privileged to be riding good horses every year.

"We get a good horse through the yard every now and again. You then try and mind them like a baby and watching it every morning in case it goes wrong as we probably only have one or two bullets. At Richard’s if one broke we had one the next day or I would get on another ride. There was a flow of horses and I found it very easy. This is harder, but I find it more rewarding.

“It is brilliant. It has been a tough enough road to get here, but I think I definitely appreciate it more. If I started with a good horse early I probably wouldn’t appreciate it as I didn’t really appreciate riding all those good horses I was riding. I just took it for granted and kept looking for the next good one.

“I was a little bit naïve as I thought if I buy twenty one of them will be good enough. Then I bought twenty the following year and there was still no good one, but if you keep chipping away and do the right things it will happen. She won here last year in a handicap and Ryan (Moore) got off and I said we will get a bit of black type Ryan and he said she is better than that, and Ryan never says that as he is a realist so I was surprised by that.

“We plotted to get her black type, and she got it, but she has done nothing but improve. I was under very little pressure. Drawn fifteen I wasn’t mad about so I said to Neil ride her to finish third and I hoped she would get a little bit of cover.

"They jumped out and there was one horse in front of her and I thought ‘Oh God, here we go. At halfway I thought she was going okay, then I just held my head as I couldn’t believe what was happening. I thought she was going to get caught as they normally do. I would have been pleased with second or third so the win was just a bonus.

“To be honest I was on the golf course with Mick Fitzgerald and the entries came out and I told him who should ride this filly and he said what about Neil Callan and I said perfect, he will do me. I texted him straight away and he said yes.”

Callan thrilled to quash retirement talk

It was a moment to savour for veteran winning rider Callan too.

"Richard said to me she is going to be big odds, but if she does everything right she can nick a place and anything after that is a bonus, and she got the bonus. For me personally I’m heading towards the twilight of my career. A couple of years ago I had two good horses for Kevin (Ryan), Fonteyn and Triple Time, then last season was a bit slow," he said.

“This season there wasn’t much about and I had a conversation with Kevin a couple of days ago and he was telling me how I need to retire, in a joking way, as my kids are up there riding work and that drove me to prove him wrong, and this is the proof.

“I will decide when I will retire. We have had issues in the past recently and nobody will tell me what to do. I will retire when I want to retire. When I feel the time is right, that will be the time, and I will decide that.

“I’m fit, healthy and well and this is what keeps you going finding horses like this although this one kind of fell into my lap, but you need that little bit of luck and that is what I tell my kids. You have just got to keep driving and today is my luck.

“In all honesty I kind of got a bit of luck as Spy Chief, who was drawn next to me, is very fast, so I knew he was fast enough to lead. I had a chat with Rab in the gates and I said why don’t we just go straight up and that is what he did.

“In Group One races you know they are going to take you far enough, it is just a case of whether you are good enough then. It is testament to my filly, and Richard priming her on the day. He said whatever she does, and wherever she finishes, she will try, and she will give one hundred percent for, and she did. She has proved them wrong. Being drawn on the wing and being drawn on the wrong side was supposed to be the wrong thing, but it was the right thing.

“I couldn’t believe it (with a half-a-furlong to go). When I picked her up going into the dip, and I hadn’t even gone for her, I thought we can run into the top three, but when I gave her a flick and she went again I thought we can win this. It was just a matter of fighting off Big Mojo and Tom Marquand then."

Owner proud of gallant Mojo

Paul Teasdale, owner of Big Mojo, said: “He had a fantastic run and I’m absolutely delighted with him. We tried him over six furlongs this year and we have been brave. Today was always going to be a tough ask, but he has run fantastically well. I thought he had just about got up, but not quite, but we are still delighted with him.

“We are in the King George Stakes, the Nunthorpe and the The Flying Five. We are in all of them (big five furlong races). We have got some options. It is a tough six here and we will be going back to five now. He travels so well and he can just withstand the really fast pace. We are not scared of going back to Goodwood as he won the Molecomb. It (the King George) is a Group Two, but it always feels like a Group One. He is an exciting horse and he is very flexible.”

York next for Speech

Notable Speech was a rare disappointment at the meeting for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby said: “Will has said he is generally disappointed. He said he came into the race thinking he was doing it all the right way round then just at the business end he just didn’t finish. We have seen that over the mile over the last couple of starts, and that is why we thought we would come back. Maybe we have got to look a little bit harder at him, but I don’t know. It is always hard to jump and make an assessment at his first time sprinting at this level.

“I see no reason immediately afterwards to say let’s meet half-way and go seven furlongs at York, which was always our sort of plan. If he comes out fit and well, which I see no reason why he won’t do, we will head to the City Of York Stakes.

“It went through my mind a bit with Symbol Of Honour as he really doesn’t like the Rowley Mile, and although we are nowhere near there, Oisin (Murphy) just said at half-way he wasn’t handling the track really. He said he hit the rising ground and he has finished.

“His words to me were that he is in the making of a Group One sprinter. He will carry on the sprinting route and he will probably go up to Haydock Park where a slick track will suit him.”

Whistlejacket was a notable disappointment, always racing towards the rear and beating only two home in 14th.

Aidan O'Brien said: "They went a good strong pace and he went back a little bit, but we will see where we go with him. We might give him a little break and freshen him up for the autumn. It didn’t work the last day and it didn’t work today. We might give him a little break and have him back for Haydock Park or something like that.”

Timeform reaction from the track - David Cleary

With the best sprinters from Royal Ascot missing, the July Cup was rather relying on Notable Speech finding his best miling form, dropping back two furlongs in trip, if it was to be an up-to-scratch renewal. That he failed to do. Instead, there was a notable shock, the 66/1 chance No Half Measures coming late to deny Big Mojo. The form looks below the level expected of a Group One sprint.

No Half Measures has done most of her racing at five furlongs, but she has a good strike rate at six and the return to the trip for the first time this year clearly suited her down to the ground. Hers was a career-best, as was the runner-up's performance. Big Mojo hadn't had the breaks in the Commonwealth Cup, but got a clear run this time and turned in a smart effort.

The veteran Run To Freedom edged out Believing and Notable Speech for third. He'd hinted that he retained plenty of ability on his first two starts this year and more than confirmed it with this effort. The next few home finished in something of a heap, one or two seeming improvers among them, which raises further questions about the value of the form

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