Who will win the Darley July Cup at Newmarket’s July Festival? Runner-by-runner guide and tip
Ben Linfoot looks ahead to Saturday’s Group One feature – the Darley July Cup – with a guide to the final declarations.
Darley July Cup (Group 1)
When: 4.25 Saturday, July 9
Where: Newmarket, July Course
Winner’s prize: £340,260
Where to watch: ITV Racing and Racing TV
ARTORIUS 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Nature Strip’s win in the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot served as a timely reminder as to the standing of Australian sprinters in the racing game – and we haven’t forgotten three weeks on. Artorius couldn’t quite claim a Royal double for the Aussies in the Platinum Jubilee, but he ran a blinder in third and trainer Sam Freedman is adamant he’ll come on for that run. He can be slow out of the gates, but Jamie Spencer is booked for the task in hand and the stiff finish on the July Course could suit his closing style.
BLACKROD 🌟🌟
It’s very difficult to strike a line through anything trained by Michael Dods in a Group One sprint as he’s a fine trainer of a good speedster as his work with Mecca’s Angel proves. Blackrod’s sire, Mayson, won this race for owner David Armstrong 10 years ago, too, so there’s a nice little story bubbling under the surface here, but he is a 100-rated handicapper who finished seventh in the Wokingham last time out, so this is a steep rise in class for all that he’s unexposed after just 10 career starts.
CREATIVE FORCE 🌟🌟🌟
The first of the Charlie Appleby-trained Dubawi’s in the race and he’s turning into a very solid operator at this level after his breakthrough Group One success in the Champion Sprint at Ascot last October. A Meydan flop is worth no more than an Alan Partridge-style shrug of the shoulders and he ran a super race in the Platinum Jubilee when second to the other Appleby-trained Dubawi Naval Crown. Fifth in this race last year, he was outpaced that day and the suspicion is he’s much better over a stiffer six, although a surprise downpour would sharpen his credentials.
EMARAATY ANA 🌟🌟
The Betfair Sprint Cup winner who beat last year’s July Cup winner, Starman, at Haydock, has to be respected for Kevin Ryan, another who knows a thing or two about keeping these highly-strung athletes sweet. He has a patchy profile, no doubt, and he only turned his career round late last July at Hamilton, while he was another who flopped in Meydan and he might’ve needed his down-the-field run at Ascot. A danger if back to his best, but we might be another month away from such a scenario yet.
NAVAL CROWN 🌟🌟
And so to the other Appleby-trained Dubawi, the one who won the Platinum Jubilee, Naval Crown. Odds of 33/1 tell you that that success was not expected, but he had had just the one previous career run over six furlongs, when fourth in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan on his previous start, so perhaps sprinting is his game after all? Maybe so, but there’s a good chance he exploited some better ground near the stands’ rail at Royal Ascot and this six furlongs will be the speediest test he has ever encountered.
ALCOHOL FREE 🌟🌟🌟
Another horse who used to ply her trade over further trying to reinvent herself as a sprinter. Twice a Group One winner over a mile at three, perhaps Oisin Murphy was key to her getting home on those occasions as she has raced more freely under Rob Hornby this season, hence the drop back in trip. She wasn't beaten far by Naval Crown at Royal Ascot, but while the stiff finish here will help she probably needs a greater emphasis on stamina to prevail over this trip and her opportunities to strike at the distance may come when the weather turns later in the year.
DOUBLE OR BUBBLE 🌟🌟
Another mare and this one has a couple of Rowley Mile successes to her name, so hopes will be high that the July Course will suit, while her Group 3 Abernant Stakes victory on the other track back in April was a career best. She contested her first Group 1 after that when trailing Naval Crown et al in the Platinum Jubilee, so she does still have to prove she has the class to be in this elite company.
HAPPY ROMANCE 🌟🌟🌟
Richard Hannon’s filly is a six-furlong specialist and she doesn’t have an awful lot to find to play a leading role here on her very best form. Picking those out you’d highlight her Hackwood Stakes victory at Newbury last July as her best winning form, while her defeats to Emaraaty Ana in the Sprint Cup and to A Case Of You in the Al Quoz Sprint also give her an each-way chance. She has to improve from her two-length defeat to Naval Crown at Royal Ascot, but that was her first domestic run of the campaign and she could do.
ROMANTIC PROPOSAL 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A dead interesting contender from the Edward Lynam yard. The trainer of Sole Power and Slade Power, with the latter winning this race in 2014, looks to have found another high-class sprinter after taking his time to discover her ideal trip. Campaigned at a mile in the early stages of her career, the Raven’s Pass mare has blossomed into a Group One-winning sprinter by virtue of her Flying Five win last September and she returned with an easy success at Naas in April. This speedy six could be ideal for her and though it’s a mild concern she wasn’t seen at Royal Ascot she looks to have the natural ability to run a big one if she makes the trip over from Ireland.
CADAMOSTO 🌟🌟
Aidan O’Brien has a tremendous record in this race thanks to Stravinsky, Mozart, Starspangledbanner, U S Navy Flag and Ten Sovereigns – and all but one of that quintet were three-year-olds. His 3yo Cadamosto is immediately respected, then, the No Nay Never colt looking to have been perked up significantly for the application of blinkers in the Commonwealth Cup where he ran fourth to Perfect Power. He’ll have to improve again to reverse that form, clearly, but he has only had the six career starts.
FLAMING RIB 🌟🌟🌟
Talking of the Commonwealth Cup - didn’t Flaming Rib run a cracker at Royal Ascot? Hugo Palmer’s horse ran second to Perfect Power after sustaining his challenge well following a prominent ride and that looked a career-best on the back of an excellent second in the Sandy Lane. He’s clearly trained on well and the nature of this track should suit his style of racing, so it’s no wonder he was supplemented on Monday at the cost of £36,000.
KING HERMES 🌟🌟
Here is a real fly in the ointment as Japanese challenger King Hermes brings more international flavour to the table. It’s 22 years since the Japanese-trained Agnes World won this race for Hideyuki Mori and this horse won a Grade 2 seven-furlong race in his homeland for Yoshito Yahagi last November. Twice beaten by Danon Scorpion over a mile since then, the big question is whether he has the speed for this test and he’s by Lord Kanaloa whose best progeny, Almond Eye and Saturnalia, were middle-distance horses.
PERFECT POWER 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Here he is, the form horse, the one to beat. Richard Fahey’s Perfect Power has bounced back impressively from being trained for the 2000 Guineas and while he didn’t stay at Newmarket he proved himself a three-year-old sprinter to be feared with a decisive victory in the Commonwealth Cup, his third Group One and second Royal Ascot victory. The right and correct favourite there is no doubt, but he did his best work late on at Ascot and there is a slight concern this speedy six might catch him out for all he’s the one that they all have to beat.
TWILIGHT JET 🌟🌟🌟
Very good on his day, as he demonstrated when smashing up New York City in the Lacken Stakes at Naas in May, but is developing a touch of the all or nothing about him as he bombed out at the Breeders’ Cup and in the Commonwealth Cup last time out. If Cups aren’t his game this is a worrying assignment, but in all seriousness it’s too early to strike a line through him, especially after he scoped dirty post-Royal Ascot and he’s a threat to all on that Naas form.
VERDICT: ROMANTIC PROPOSAL 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
With ROMANTIC PROPOSAL declared to come over Edward Lynam's mare gets the nod in a terrific renewal.
Many of the leading lights are seven-furlong horses turned sprinters and the selection herself started her career over a mile, but her pace is not in doubt given she struck over five furlongs at the top level last September.
Her speed could be a crucial factor here and missing Royal Ascot gives her a freshness angle - and we know she's good after a break - as well as an under-the-radar quantity at a good each-way price of 20/1.
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