Newmarket Cambridgeshire Meeting Preview: What will we learn?

Are Richard Spencer juveniles up to it?

Mixed fortunes for Richard Spencer and major backer Phil Cunningham at Ayr’s main meeting in the week, Wild Thoughts and Ice Cube providing a day-one double before some relatively disappointing performances into the weekend.

This week at Newmarket we could discover just how strong the next wave of Spencer's representatives is going to be as Great Balls O’Fire is pitched into Thursday’s Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes following a well-backed debut win on the July Course, while the Sioux Nation filly Speed Of Sound takes the leap from Doncaster nursery to Group 2 level where she could face the likes of Spirited Gesture and Alwaysanangel in the Betway Rockfel Stakes on Friday.

Saffie Osborne admitted in the week that Cunningham’s infectious enthusiasm for the game was one of the main drivers behind her upturn in fortunes over the past couple of seasons and with quality young horses like this coming through, the Classic-winning rider seems likely to remain in the spotlight for the foreseeable future.

A filly without limits?

Also on Friday, just before the Rockfel we’ll hopefully get to see another exciting filly in the John & Thady Gosden-trained Without Prejudice.

How good could she be? Hard to tell at this stage but the daughter of Starman, who is a half-sister to the same stable's former star Emily Upjohn, carries the Timeform ‘large P’ on the back of a couple of striking 10-furlong novice wins at Newmarket (July) and Windsor (replay below), and a step up to a mile and a half in the Group 3 Princess Royal Stakes could unlock all sorts of further improvement.

John Gosden has won this event four times in the past, three from the ‘Classic generation’ and Without Prejudice could be something special on day two of the meeting.

Will Talk begin to walk the walk?

Charlie Appleby can do no wrong it seems right now and he’s bound to have a serious team lined up as HQ switches back over to the Rowley Mile for the autumn.

Talk Of New York hasn’t quite hit the heights that might have been expected following his superb Heron Stakes win at Sandown Park in May, although you can’t really crab his third behind Bow Echo and Gstaad in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Turned over at a very short price (2/5) in Goodwood’s Group 3 Thoroughbred Stakes when last seen on July 31, he was unsuited by the way that race was run and William Buick came in for a little bit of criticism in certain quarters for not having Talk Of New York a little handier in the run.

However, the horse ultimately did quite well to go down by just half a length and his only previous outing on this course at Newmarket yielded a clearcut win back in the spring. The Group 2 Joel Stakes looks the ideal target for him to get back on the right track.

How to follow a brother like that?

Saturday is obviously huge but Friday looks an important one for Appleby and he unleashes Rebel’s Romance’s brother Fortitudine on the turf for the first time in the Listed Betway Godolphin Stakes, a race the trainer has won three times in the past.

The Dubawi colt took off in the hands of James Doyle on debut at Kempton on August 5, going on to win by 21 lengths in what was presumably something of a pleasant surprise for connections seeing as he went off at 7/2.

Buick got his turn a month later over the same course and distance (1m3f) and while not quite as eye-opening when converting at as the ¼ market leader that night, Fortitudine still looked a star in the making.

He’s unlikely to face a deep field as Appleby is responsible for two of the other nine entries, while Infraad could be kept back for Ascot next month, but at least we’ll get to see him on the grass and Appleby should get more of a feel for what kind of horse he has going into the winter months (no major back-end entries at this stage unless France comes into the equation).

Who is the queen of speed?

A couple of Group 1s highlight the Saturday card but while the Appleby-trained Inner City Blues versus Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes winner Great Barrier Reef in the Middle Park Stakes will inevitably draw plenty of attention, I think that everyone wants to know who is the best sprinting juvenile among the fillies right now.

Libertango (George Boughey) clashing with Senorita Bonita (Simon & Ed Crisford) again has looked on for a few weeks now but all the noises coming out of Ballydoyle have strongly suggested that a thriving Sun Goddess is going to be there to take them on and that makes for a fascinating contest.

It was pointed out on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast last week that the last British or Irish juvenile to win four Group 1s in their first season was Johannesburg who took in the Phoenix, Prix Morny, Middle Park and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont in a stellar 2001, and Sun Goddess certainly looks a little bit ‘out of the ordinary’, as her trainer might say.

Incidentally, Sun Goddess, with a couple of Group 1s already in the bag along with the Harry’s Half Million at York, is a daughter of Sioux Nation, who was by Scat Daddy, who himself was a brilliant colt by – you guessed it – Johannesburg.

Is Cambridgeshire fav much more than a handicapper?

The Gosdens have won the bet365 Cambridgeshire a record five times in the past and four of those have been improving three-year-olds who have gone on to achieve bigger things later in life.

Gavriel is the next cab off the Clarehaven rank and, at not much better than 4/1, he’s already been backed like a good thing miles ahead of his BHA mark. That now reads 101 after a smooth and stylish handicap debut win over 10 furlongs at Ascot earlier in the month (replay below) and the way that he swiftly put that race to bed suggests he’ll be fine over a marginally shorter trip here.

There’s no room for shrinking violets in a race like the Cambridgeshire and the draw can do funky things at times too, but this son of Frankel has all the hallmarks of a blossoming Group horse for an outfit that knows just what they look like at this stage of their careers.

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