Latest horse racing news from UK, Ireland, and around the world.

No Half Measures stuns July Cup rivals

/in /by

Richard Hughes’ No Half Measures ran out a shock winner of the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup Stakes at Newmarket.

At 66-1 she was a real outsider in the Group One contest, and from stall 15 she kept out of trouble under Neil Callan on the far side of the track.

As the six-furlong event reached the business end she was picking off rivals and after locking horns with Big Mojo, it was No Half Measures who came out on top by a neck with a further length and three-quarters back to Run To Freedom in third.

Hughes steered Oasis Dream to victory in the 2003 July Cup and after taking up training in 2015, No Half Measures is his first Group One winner as a handler.

Neil Callan returns to the winner's enclosure aboard No Half Measures
Neil Callan returns to the winner’s enclosure aboard No Half Measures (Joe Giddens/PA)

An emotional Hughes said: “I’ve just got a bear hug off William Buick and he’s cut my lip!

“It’s brilliant. Disappointments when you’re training are very hard and the highs don’t meet the lows. We fancied the filly yesterday Mood Queen and she finished last, which was excruciating, and the highs aren’t even high enough.

“It’s an up and down game, but I’m coping better with it now than I used to. It’s been a tough enough ride to get to here, but I’m definitely appreciating more now than when I started.

“I didn’t appreciate all those good horses when I was riding, I just took it for granted and I was very lucky to be riding for Richard Hannon and having the Khalid Abdullah job – I was privileged to be riding good horses every year.

“We get a good horse through the yard now and again and I’m trying to mind it like a baby and I’m watching it every day in case it goes wrong because you probably only have one or two bullets. In Hannon’s, if one broke you’d get on another one next day or I’d get another ride. There was a flow of horses and I found it very easy.

“I was a little bit naive when I started training – I thought if I bought 20 horses one of them was going to be good. Then I bought 20 the following year and still no good one.

“This is harder, but more rewarding for sure.”

Of gaining his first Group One as a trainer, he added: “I’ve got the monkey off my back that’s for sure and I can retire now saying I rode a July Cup winner and trained one, so that’s really nice.

Richard Hughes (second left) with No Half Measures
Richard Hughes (second left) with No Half Measures (Joe Giddens/PA)

“Of course I want more, it’s my nature as I’m very competitive, but if you don’t have the horses you can’t train them.”

No Half Measures won a handicap at this meeting last year before graduating to Group Three and Listed success, but Hughes admitted he had not expected to hit the mark at the highest level.

He said: “She won here last year in a handicap and when Ryan (Moore) got off her I asked him if we’d get a bit of black type and he said ‘she’s better than that’, which is something Ryan never says! He’s a realist, so I was quite surprised by that.

“We plotted to get our black type and we got it and she’s done nothing but improve.

“There was very little pressure today really. At halfway I thought she was going OK and then I just held my head because I couldn’t believe what was happening!

“I just thought if she’s going to get caught she’s going to caught, because they normally do, but I would have been pleased even with second or third, so to win is just a bonus.”

Callan has had a quiet season so far and was grateful to get the Group One call up from Hughes.

He said: “It’s surreal because I’m getting into the twilight of my career. My son Jack is starting and I’m getting a lot of flak saying I’ve getting give up. He was with Kevin Ryan yesterday and my old boss Kevin telling me I’ve got to retire so this one’s for you, Kev!

“I’ve got to thank Richard (Hughes) because if you don’t get given these opportunities then you can’t take them and I’m not in a position to be going around scouting and taking rides.

“You know this game – you’re only as good as your last ride so you’ve got to come out and prove yourself every time you come out, every day.”

Saba Desert swoops for Superlative strike

/in /by

Saba Desert overcame a bumpy start to lift the bet365 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

The chestnut was ridden by William Buick and bunny hopped out of his stall to find himself on the back foot early on, but quickly put that behind him to settle to the task as a 6-1 chance.

Plenty of his rivals began to hang to the left and Saba Desert was inclined to follow them, but still his class came to the fore and he was a length and a quarter ahead of the 4-6 favourite Italy when crossing the line.

Wild Desert, who like the winner is trained by Charlie Appleby, was a further neck back in third and as the first three got close in the finish, a stewards’ inquiry was called, although the placings were left unchanged.

Saba Desert was a debut winner at Sandown and Appleby said: “It was an interesting race and Saba Desert is a horse we’ve liked from the get-go.

The Debenhams July Festival 2025 – July Cup Day – Newmarket Racecourse
Saba Desert and William Buick in the bet365 Superlative Stakes (Joe Giddens/PA)

“We were pleased with the way he did it at Sandown, he naturally progressed from Sandown to here and as everyone knows this is a race we try to find the right one for.

“I know he fluffed his lines at the start but I don’t mind that, I’d rather that than them hit the lids and then you’re up there being forced up on the pace. He’s done it all the right way round and the most important part is when you hit the rising ground you’re finishing and he’s done that with class, I feel.”

Appleby now has his sights set on the Group One Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in the autumn with Saba Desert.

He added: “He’s by Dubawi, so you’re starting with the right product, and we’ll work back from the Dewhurst with him now. Whether we decide to go down the National Stakes route or whether we go to the Champagne (Stakes at Doncaster) and then the Dewhurst we’ll see, but he’ll get a break now.

“He’s more of a Guineas type (than a Derby horse) for next year. There’s plenty about this horse, he’s a true Dubawi and I think he’ll only get better.”

Of Wild Desert, Appleby added: “I’m delighted with the third horse, he was the one that probably got the most interrupted run and he might go to Goodwood for the Vintage.

“He’s a hard horse to gauge as he’s not a work horse at home, whereas the winner is push button – if you want to win a gallop by 10 lengths, you just push the button and he will, but we don’t need to do that, we can wait until we come here.”

O’Brien was satisfied with Italy’s effort and will now likely head to the Curragh next month for a Group Two assignment.

He said: “We’re very happy, he was a bit babyish and a bit green, as we thought he might be.

“He’ll go back to the Futurity Stakes probably now. If he’d won today he’d have had to go into a Group One next, so in a way it’s better (that he got beaten).

“He came for experience and he hasn’t been woke up at all really. We’re very happy and we’ll look forward to him the next time.”

More Thunder holds on for Bunbury Cup glory

/in /by

William Haggas will test the water at Group-race level before the season is out with More Thunder following his narrow success in the bet365 Bunbury Cup at Newmarket.

The winner of two valuable six-furlong handicaps on the Rowley Mile in the spring, the four-year-old was beaten a head by Get It when bidding for his hat-trick in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot last month.

More Thunder was a 6-5 favourite to get back on the winning trail in this £100,000 contest and having been dropped out last by Tom Marquand early on, he was angled towards the stands’ rail to mount his challenge and quickened up smartly to challenge for the lead.

Last year’s winner Aalto, a 40-1 shot to successfully defend his crown, bounced back from an uninspiring run of form to make a real race of it inside the last of seven furlongs and the pair flashed by the post almost as one, but it was More Thunder who had his head down where it mattered, with the judge confirming him the winner by a nose.

Haggas said: “I need to watch it again, but for me they didn’t go fast at all and he struggled to get momentum. I think he’s better going fast and Tom came in and said ‘if you run him over this trip again, they need to go hard’. Six furlongs, he feels, is his best trip.”

More Thunder holds big-race entries in major handicaps and Pattern races and it is clear his trainer is keen to see him compete in Group One company at some stage.

William Haggas at Newmarket on Saturday
William Haggas at Newmarket on Saturday (Joe Giddens/PA)

When asked if he had thought about running in the July Cup later in the afternoon, Haggas added: “We considered it strongly, but we also wanted to go up to seven furlongs at some stage and this was an opportunity to do so.

“That is why he came here, but we will have a crack at a six-furlong stakes race. He just needs pace this horse, but in six-furlong Group races, you’ll see in the July Cup, they don’t go slow!

“He could run in another handicap, but I think he deserves a shot at a good race now.”

Orion’s Belt stars in Newmarket opener for Richard Hannon

/in /by

Orion’s Belt got punters off to a a flying start on July Cup day at Newmarket with a runaway success in the opening Rossdales British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

A narrowly-beaten fourth as an odds-on favourite for her debut at Salisbury four weeks ago, Richard Hannon’s charge was a well-backed 15-8 market leader to open her account at the second time of asking.

Her supporters will have had few concerns, with Orion’s Belt sent straight to the lead by Ryan Moore and she was three and three-quarter lengths clear of the chasing pack at the line.

Hannon’s senior head lad, Tony Gorman, said: “She’s a very nice filly and that was exactly what we thought earlier on in the year.

“She was stepping up in trip today, but I think even at six (furlongs) she would have won because she was always in a lovely place.

“Once ours have had a run they know their jobs and she’s loads of options. She’s a big filly so we’ll give her a bit of time and she’s by a proper sire (Starman).”

Royal Velvet (4-1) swooped fast and late to land the Trustatrader 20th Anniversary Fillies’ Handicap under a typically well-timed ride from William Buick.

Winning trainer William Knight said: “Having Will Buick on board always helps and he gave her a great ride there. He doesn’t know the filly and he just let her go through the gears.

“I was quite happy with where she was, seven (furlongs) is fast enough for her but she came good at the end.

“At some point in the future we might get some black type with her.”

Fifth Column came out on top in a Godolphin-dominated finish to the bet365 Mile Handicap, with John and Thady Gosden’s 4-1 shot outpointing Charlie Appleby’s 7-4 favourite Bedouin Prince by a neck, with Ryan Moore the winning rider.

John Gosden said: “The plan was there to get there as late as possible and he got there and did it nicely. I’m very happy with him.

“I’ve already been told by bet365 we have to go for the Cambridgeshire, but being a three-year-old we’ve got to get the weights up a bit.

“He won the race on his side in the Britannia (at Royal Ascot) and it’s nice to win here with him.”

Oisin Murphy steered Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Claymore to victory in the Trustatrader Handicap – his first win since his drink-driving conviction last week.

Murphy, who was fined £70,000 and banned from driving for 20 months having pleaded guilty to one count of driving a motor vehicle while over the prescribed limit of alcohol, had two and quarter lengths in hand at the line aboard the 7-2 shot.

William Buick ‘on the list’ for vacant Field Of Gold ride

/in /by

William Buick is “on the list” of potential riders who could partner Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood later this month.

Narrowly denied by Ruling Court in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket when partnered by Kieran Shoemark, the John and Thady Gosden-trained grey has made no mistake in two subsequent outings under Juddmonte’s new retained rider Colin Keane, dominating his rivals in the Irish Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

However, with Keane ruled out of the entirety of the Goodwood Festival after picking up a 14-day suspension at Sandown last week for transgressing the whip rules, Field Of Gold will require another change of jockey on July 30.

Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon insists no final decision will be made until closer to the time, but told the PA news agency on Saturday: “I’m sure he (Buick) is on the list, but we’ll have to wait and see whether Godolphin have a runner in the race and everything else nearer the time.

“All being well we’re heading to Goodwood – that is plan A. I saw the horse myself earlier this week, he looked in good shape and seems to be doing well.

“We’ll make a decision on who rides him closer to the time.”

John Gosden rates a Buick a possible pick, although he did joke that Frankie Dettori had put in a request for the ride from his American base.

When asked whether Buick was the most likely pilot, Gosden said: “Probably, yes, but I got a picture from Saratoga of a man lighting a picture in a Catholic church and underneath it said ‘please can I have the ride’!

“That’s a joke! Someone like William (it could be), but we haven’t got near the race yet. You know this game, we’ll just wait.”

Racing Bulletin for 12/07/2025

/in /by

Latest News and Features

Your first 30 days for just £1

Today's Racing

Click on course names to view our course guides. Click on race times to access that racecard. Times highlighted in yellow are free races of the day.

Dundalk

Standard

 13:20 13:52 14:27 15:02 15:35 16:05 16:40 17:15
Limerick

Good

 13:32 14:07 14:42 15:17 15:52 16:25 17:00
Newmarket

Good to Firm

 13:40 14:12 14:50 15:25 16:00 16:35 17:10
Ascot

Good to Firm

 13:45 14:22 14:57 15:30 16:10 16:50 17:20
York

Good to Firm

 14:00 14:35 15:10 15:45 16:15 16:45 17:25
Chester

Good

 16:20 16:55 17:30 18:05 18:35 19:10
Salisbury

Good to Firm

 17:40 18:15 18:45 19:20 19:50 20:20
Hamilton Park

Good

 17:50 18:25 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00

Today's Feature of the Day is...

Trainer/Jockey Combo report

Good luck!


Big-money buy Distant Storm delivers on debut at Newmarket

/in /by

Distant Storm just edged out Constitution River in the usually-informative Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes at Newmarket.

Won 12 months ago by Field Of Gold, a host of other subsequent Group-race performers have been successful in the seven-furlong contest and the first two home both had their supporters.

Distant Storm (5-6 favourite) cost €1.9million at the Arqana breeze-up and the Night Of Thunder colt boasts an exceptional pedigree as the penultimate foal of the mare Date With Destiny, who in turn was the sole progeny of multiple Group One winner George Washington.

He had to prove he was tough as well as classy to see off Aidan O’Brien’s Wootton Bassett colt Constitution River, but Distant Storm managed to win by a short head to provide Charlie Appleby and William Buick with another July meeting winner.

The front two were well clear of the rest, and Appleby said: “We came here with confidence – he’s been a very straightforward horse to deal with.

“Obviously he was bought from the Arqana breeze-up, so you would expect them to know a little bit more and he has a pedigree to get excited about, but as an individual he’s a very normal horse.

“He’s not flashy and doesn’t draw attention to himself, he just goes out and does what he’s asked to do and in a nice manner, so hopefully he’s a horse that will mentally progress quicker than some of those buzzy ones.

“The first two pulled nicely clear and he’ll have learned plenty today. We’ll give him a bit of time as he’s unfurnished still and he needs to strengthen before you pitch them in that (Group One) level as if you pitch them in too soon or before they’re ready, you will go quickly backwards.”

Appleby could now look to next month’s Ebor meeting at York with Distant Storm, adding: “There’ll be races we can dip our toe in and allow him to progress – with his mindset he might be an Acomb Stakes horse maybe.

“If he goes and ticks the next box, then you have a chance of looking towards a Group One target.”

‘She’s getting there’ – O’Brien confident January will get her day

/in /by

Aidan O’Brien could look to France for a Group One-winning opportunity for January after the filly narrowly missed out in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.

In receipt of 9lb from the winner Cinderella’s Dream, the three-year-old January was beaten just half a length, adding another top-level placing to her record after taking third in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Despite seeing his 6-4 favourite eclipsed, O’Brien is confident the Kingman filly is on the right track, with the Prix Rothschild at Deauville on August 3 pencilled in as a possible target.

O’Brien said: “She ran a lovely race, she is improving and we think there’s more improvement to come from her.

“She’s a lot of ability this filly and it’s coming. She’s definitely a miler – she’s quick. We’re getting there – she’s slowly getting closer.

“She ran a great race and we think we’re on the right road.

“There’s the fillies’ race in Deauville in a few weeks’ time, so we might look at that for her.”

Connections of Crimson Advocate also hope their filly will eventually strike Group One gold, having seen a length-and-three-quarters defeat of Cinderella’s Dream at Royal Ascot reversed off level weights here.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained runner was beaten two and a quarter lengths on the July course, with Richard Brown, the racing adviser for owners Wathnan Racing, feeling the contest had perhaps not unfolded in her favour.

He said: “There wasn’t a huge amount of early pace and more pace would have meant she could have been snaffled into it a little bit more, but she’s run a very good race.

“We haven’t made any plans, we’ll go away and have a think about it.

“She’s run a great race and I hope she can have her day in one of these (Group Ones).”

Crimson Advocate is entered in both the seven-furlong Lennox Stakes and the mile-and-a-quarter Nassau Stakes at Goodwood later this month and Brown added: “We’ll take her home and see how she comes out of it and then plot for the second half of the season.”

Superlative chance for Italy to follow City Of Troy

/in /by

Aidan O’Brien’s Italy is already prominent in the betting for next season’s Classics after just one run, so a big performance is expected in the bet365 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

Two years ago City Of Troy burst into the big-race picture when beating Haatem by over six lengths in this race – and the suggestions are that Italy could produce something similar.

The imposing Wootton Bassett colt eventually got going to win cosily on his debut at Leopardstown from Thesecretadversary, who franked the form by running well in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

O’Brien said: “We’re looking forward to him. He’s a lovely horse, we think he’s come forward from his maiden and we’re looking forward to seeing what he’ll do on Saturday.

“The horse that was second to him in Leopardstown was second in Ascot, so hopefully he’ll run well.”

Saba Desert is one of two runners for Charlie Appleby and the once-raced Dubawi colt is the choice of William Buick.

Appleby has won the race five times since 2016, including last year with Ancient Truth.

“He won well at Sandown. It looks a good Superlative and as always it’s full of potential, but he’s a nice horse, he should have improved for Sandown and we’ll know where we are come Saturday afternoon,” said Buick.

“Charlie always earmarks the Superlative as a race where he wants to run his nicer two-year-olds, so it’s not hard to come to a conclusion that he’s one of the nicer ones and he’s only had the one run, so he’s a horse that’s got plenty of improvement left in him.

“He took on experienced horses at Sandown, I thought he did it very well and couldn’t do any more than what he did.

“It looks a substantial field and the winner of the Superlative will always go on to do good things – you usually see them end up in the Dewhurst.”

Wild Desert is Appleby’s other runner, who having won by five lengths on his debut was then beaten under a penalty last time out by another stablemate in Pacific Avenue.

George Boughey’s Moonfall finished behind two other Appleby juveniles on his first two outings before opening his account at Newbury.

Boughey told Star Sports: “The programme fits itself for a horse like him. He’s rated 90, and we’d like to try to turn him into a stakes horse. He could have gone to the nursery at Goodwood, but his work has been very solid.

“He’s a horse who wants seven furlongs and he’s just ready to run again. I thought waiting three weeks for Goodwood was probably too long, so I’m looking forward to seeing him step up in grade here.”

Cinderella’s Dream takes top spot in Falmouth Stakes

/in /by

Cinderella’s Dream emerged best of a three-way battle for Group One honours in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.

Trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, Cinderella’s Dream needed to reverse Royal Ascot form with her Duke of Cambridge Stakes conqueror Crimson Advocate, while Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old January provided a fresh test for the Godolphin runner.

Cinderella’s Dream (5-2) looked the have the measure of Crimson Advocate only for January (6-4 favourite) to deliver her challenge, with Buick’s mount battling all the way to the line to prevail by half a length, with a length and three-quarters back to Crimson Advocate in third.

“I did think when she hit the rising ground it would take a tough one to get past her,” said Appleby, who was winning the Falmouth for the first time.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know if she was firing on all cylinders at Ascot. We always look for excuses when we’re beaten so we used the bend and the 3lb penalty, but she’s been round Del Mar and you ain’t going to get many tighter turns than that, so I don’t think we can say going round Ascot was going to be too much of a challenge for her.

“Will was just happy over a mile on a straight track as maybe a mile round a bend is sharp enough.

“She won her maiden at Lingfield and then we went up to Thirsk to win her novice. She’s knee high to a grasshopper but she’s as tough as teak and I’m delighted for her as she’s been so consistent and for her to win a Group One here in Europe is richly deserved.

“We’re very much going to work back from the Breeders’ Cup Filly And Mare Turf. It annoyed me when that got away for us last year, so we’ll go back for a crack at that, how we get there we’ll work that out.”

Buick said: “She’s all class. She’s been unlucky a couple of times, but today she’s put it all together.

“What a game filly she is, it was a ding-dong between two good fillies, it was a good race and she had give the second filly 9lb, it’s never easy.

“I’m just so pleased for her, she’s been a wonderful filly all through and I’m just delighted she’s got a domestic Group One next to her name.”

Sayidah Dariyan swoops late for Summer success

/in /by

Billy Loughnane rode Sayidah Dariyan with plenty of confidence and the filly delivered in style in the William Hill Summer Stakes at York.

The Richard Hughes-trained three-year-old was sent off the 9-4 favourite on the back of her run at Royal Ascot when she was fourth, beaten just over a length, in the Group One Commonwealth Cup.

Dropped in class to a Group Three and back in against her own sex, the 9-4 favourite could be spotted travelling ominously well with two furlongs to run but she had a wall of horses in front of her.

Loughnane managed to weave his way through the pack to take up the running and the race was over in a matter of strides.

Nighteyes, who herself had outrun market expectations in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Ascot, stayed on for a length-and-a-half second, catching the returning Celandine, last year’s Lowther winner who was making her first start of the season.

Loughnane told Racing TV: “Richard told me to be as confident as I could on her as she relaxes lovely behind, she conserves so much energy and she’s got an electric turn of foot when you let her down.

“She ran well at Ascot but I’ll leave future placing to Richard and the team. She’s in great nick and is definitely a filly on the up.

“She’s got the best mind ever. She yawns in the gate and when they open she gets down to it.

“To be honest I’d have liked a smoother passage through, but I just had to wait. It probably did me a favour as it meant I didn’t get there too soon.”

It capped a good 10 minutes for Hughes who also won at Ascot with Sayidah Hard Spun.

Venetian Sun stays unbeaten in Duchess of Cambridge Stakes

/in /by

Venetian Sun narrowly held off the late charge of Royal Fixation to win the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket and in the process take her unbeaten record to three.

Sent off the 2-5 favourite after a convincing Albany Stakes success at Royal Ascot, Venetian Sun travelled supremely well throughout the six-furlong Group Two and when Clifford Lee asked her to quicken, it looked a matter of how far.

Royal Fixation and William Buick had other ideas though, launching their challenge away from the market leader in the final furlong, with Venetian Sun’s margin only a neck in the end, although there was still a slightly cosy feel to it.

The Karl Burke-trained winner was left an unchanged 14-1 shot for next year’s 1000 Guineas by Paddy Power.

Burke said: “This race wasn’t part of the plan originally, we just made a decision last week to enter and have a look at the race and if we were happy with the filly and happy with the race then we might take our chance.

“There’s been no issues with the filly, but we haven’t trained her for this race – we’ve been fairly easy on her since Ascot, as you would expect, with the thought that we’d go for the Lowther at York or maybe the Prix Morny.

“Now she’s won a Group Two that brings the Morny into it more than the Lowther. We won’t say we’re definitely going to the Morny, but if the ground is a bit easier and it’s a race we think we can be very competitive in we could go there and still have time to get her ready for the Moyglare.

“If we’re not happy with her for the Morny, we’ll go straight to the Moyglare.”

Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket
Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket (Joe Giddens/PA)

Burke completed the Albany/Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes double with Dandalla five years ago, while Laurens and Fallen Angel were both Classic-winning fillies for the Spigot Lodge handler, who has made no secret of the regard in which he holds his latest potential star.

“I would say she’s another league above Dandalla, who was a very good racehorse but this filly is a little bit special,” he added.

“She’d be quicker than Laurens and Fallen Angel. They were high-class, Group One-winning fillies and this filly hasn’t done that yet, but she’d be a lot quicker and she’s a very straightforward filly with a fantastic mind.”

Ed Walker was delighted with the performance of runner-up Royal Fixation.

He said: “I’m very proud of her. You come in here off the back of a Thirsk maiden and you don’t really know how good you are, but she’s very good.

“It would have been disappointing if she had run badly as we rate her very highly among our two-year-olds, but to run that filly (Venetian Sun) as close as we did is pretty exciting because I think she’s a very special filly.

“Briefly I thought we might get there. I could just sense from Will’s body language that he thought he had a chance.

“I think she was a bit green. She never came off the bridle at Thirsk so today is the first time she’s had a proper race. There’s lots more to come, I’d say.

“I don’t know where we’ll go next – I’ll have a cold beer and worry about that later. The Lowther has got to be a potential target.”

King’s Charter rules for Buick and Appleby

/in /by

Charlie Appleby and William Buick picked up where they left off on day two of the July Festival at Newmarket, with King’s Charter swooping late to land the £100,000 Bet365 Handicap.

Following a Thursday treble for the Moulton Paddocks team that featured Buick’s 2,000th winner in Britain, King’s Charter was the 9-4 favourite for Friday’s curtain-raiser, having opened his account at the third attempt on his first start as a three-year-old at Doncaster last month.

Charlie Johnston’s Marhaba Ghaiyyath kicked for home a long way out and proved a tough adversary, but Buick timed his challenge to perfection aboard King’s Charter, who just proved speedier in the finish and passed the post with three-quarters of a length in hand.

Appleby said: “We felt the step up to 10 furlongs would hopefully see a bit of improvement, which was going to be needed at a meeting like this, and he’s duly obliged with that.

“I’d probably say he’s still a handicapping type at the moment. We’ll see what the handicapper does and see where he lines up with (going to) Meydan.

“It’s that time of year – from July onwards we start to put our team together for Meydan. Whether he’s a horse that fits that bill, we’ll see.

“Is he a Group horse? Probably not really, but he’s a nice handicapper.”

Appleby and Buick were denied a double in the other £100,000 handicap on the card after Endless Victory was reeled in by Oneforthegutter (12-1) in the bet365 Trophy.

The winner would have been an unlucky loser with Silvestre de Sousa all locked up with nowhere to go at one stage – but when he brought Ian Williams’ charge, who had been second in the race last year, down the centre of the track he quickened up to win by half a length.

Williams also saddled the third home Real Dream, while his 11-4 favourite Dancing In Paris weakened into eighth place after making much of the running.

The trainer said: “Unfortunately Dancing In Paris got very keen with Marco (Ghiani) and I was actually tearing my hair out and not really noticing the other two were creeping into the race.

“Oneforthegutter is an amazing little horse. We bought him as a breeze-up, he won his first start as a two-year-old and he’s still going in one-mile-six-furlong races now at six.

“He was a fantastic third in the Ebor last year, the problem is the handicapper is probably going to put up a few pounds now and I didn’t think he was particularly well handicapped coming into today.

“Things will only get tougher for him, but there’s plenty of opportunities for these horses and we’ll make the most of them.”

David O’Meara and Rossa Ryan combined to land the Dubai Racing Club Handicap with Leadman (12-1), with the concluding debenhams.com Handicap going to 17-2 chance Emperor Spirit, trained by Michael Keady and ridden by Marco Ghiani.

Notable Speech aiming to join July Cup giants

/in /by

It might be stretching it to say Notable Speech attempts to do an Ajdal in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup, but his presence has certainly added lots of spice to the Newmarket showpiece.

Dewhurst winner Ajdal was miraculously brought back from defeats in the 2000 Guineas and Derby by Sir Michael Stoute to win the sprint championship in 1987, while the following year crack miler Soviet Star shone for Andre Fabre and France.

Royal Academy was another brilliant miler to win the July Cup, and now it is last year’s Guineas hero Notable Speech who gets his chance for Charlie Appleby and William Buick, having so far this year been fourth in both the Lockinge Stakes and Queen Anne.

Buick – on a high this week after recording his 2,000th career success in Britain – said: “I’ll tell you after the race whether it was the correct decision or not!

William Buick is fresh from riding his 2,000th winner
William Buick is fresh from riding his 2,000th winner (Steven Paston for The Jockey Club)

“He’s only ever raced over a mile and he is a very speedy miler, which the good milers usually are. I’ve always felt he could drop back in trip, certainly to seven furlongs, and I know Charlie has earmarked the City of York as one of his possible targets.

“Obviously we won’t know fully about six furlongs until we try it, but it’s worth a try. He’s a horse with loads of speed and if he can adapt to that early pace and be within himself, I think he’ll be there with a very good shot.”

Reflecting on his Ascot performance, Buick said: “He was unlucky and it was such a nightmare of a race. They went so slow and we were in a pocket and it was just one of those races you couldn’t take too much out of. Sadly, we just had to put a line through it and move on.

“Once the dust settled, Charlie and the team thought long and hard about this race for him and we’ll give it a go.

“It’s a different thing to what he has done. If you go back to the Guineas he won, that was a strongly-run Guineas run at a fast pace throughout and he’s a horse with a high cruising speed, so I hope that he will give himself every chance to travel within himself early in the race, wherever he’s happy.”

Appleby also runs Symbol Of Honour, who had been among the ante-post favourites until his stablemate was supplemented.

The trainer said: “On their home work they’re chalk and cheese, but Symbol Of Honour has always been like that and when he gets on the racecourse he’s just tough – he gets out on the pace and grinds it out.

“Notable Speech, without stating the obvious, is the class horse going into the race.

“When Will got off him at Kempton last year he said the English Guineas might be a bit stiff for him, but obviously he went and won the English Guineas and from there on he’s only ever run over a mile.

“But from what I saw in the Lockinge and although it was hard to assess Ascot because they went steady, he is a supreme traveller and I felt he’s got plenty to gain by running here on Saturday and nothing to lose.”

The ever-growing Wathnan Racing run three, but it was not a hard choice for retained rider James Doyle to pick Andrew Balding’s Flora Of Bermuda following her sterling effort when third at Royal Ascot.

“I haven’t actually had a chance to sit on her recently but I did her ride her before, albeit as a two-year-old,” said Doyle.

“I’m sure she’ll be a little bit different to the last time I sat on her, but I had a good chat with Andrew about whether it was a good idea to come down and he felt she’s very straightforward. He said there are no issues there, he didn’t think.

“Her two wins did come with ease in the ground and I’m sure one day that that might help her, but her best form  – her last run and some other bits of form –  came on very quick ground.

“When she ran behind Kind Of Blue there was plenty of ease in the ground but she’s shown to be very versatile.

“I don’t think it’s too much of a worry and she’s not a big, heavy filly, she’s quite light on her feet.”

Wathnan are also represented by Karl Burke’s Night Raider and the Tom Clover-trained Rogue Lightning.

Whistlejacket has winning form on the July course
Whistlejacket has winning form on the July course (Joe Giddens/PA)

Aidan O’Brien last won the race in 2019 with Ten Sovereigns and 12 months prior to that with another three-year-old, US Navy Flag. He runs Whistlejacket from the Classic generation this year.

Paul Smith of owners Coolmore said: “He’s working very well at home, but I see the money is coming for him and I don’t know where that money is coming from.

“He’s in good form, he’s a quality horse and was a good two-year-old, so we’re looking forward to seeing him run on Saturday.”

Camacho changes course to tackle John Smith’s Cup with Naqeeb

/in /by

When Julie Camacho recruited Naqeeb she had her eyes set on plundering a major prize at York – but it was not the John Smith’s Cup.

However, the former William Haggas-trained inmate has been displaying more speed than he had for former connections so instead of looking at the Ebor next month over a mile and three-quarters, he heads to the Knavesmire on Saturday over 10 furlongs.

Third at Royal Ascot in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes over a mile and a half, Malton-based Camacho feels they have nothing to lose by running the half-brother to Group One winners Baaeed and Hukum in the £200,000 feature.

“We’d bought him originally to be an Ebor horse. But we haven’t put him in and decided we want to try a mile and a quarter,” she said.

“We were delighted with his run at Ascot. We always felt – and my brother Matthew, who does all the analysis and everything, felt – that he was worth a try at a mile and a quarter. And we just thought this was the race to try him.

“We’re excited to try him at a mile and a quarter, to be honest. He travels strongly in his races. And if we’re wrong, we’re wrong – we just go back up to a mile and a half with him.

“Fast ground is what he wants. He doesn’t want soft. Ryan (Sexton), unfortunately is not available, so Kevin Stott takes over.

“It’s our local track – a track we all want to do well at. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Haggas has a good record in the race and runs recent course winner Archivist, while Jim Goldie, successful in 2018 with Euchen Glen, is represented by Faylaq, another formerly in the care of Haggas.

Your first 30 days for just £1