Tag Archive for: Newmarket

Monday Musings: A Ces for the Home Team

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I recently wrote about the sad decline in the attraction to trainers of Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire Handicap, run two weeks ago with a first prize of £90k, writes Tony Stafford. On a track where they could easily accommodate 35 horses and room for five or six London buses in between up the straight it looked a mundane affair at best.

They even used to run a consolation race (for much less money) for a few years not so long ago and while never having the relevance of the Chester Cup or Northumberland Plate consolations, it at least gave a run to people who had prepared their horses for the big race and missed out. While admiring the performance of its top-weighted winner Boiling Point for Karl Burke last month, the 2025 race was a tame and wholly domestic affair.

Of course, when it came to the Cesarewitch on Saturday, for a similar first prize, the Irish were interested – sending out ten of their mainly second-division stayers, but where was the feasible home defence going to come from?

In all, only 19 went into the stalls for the race that, as my friend Maurice Manasseh, half a century on from John Oaksey, reminded us, “It begins in Cambridgeshire and finishes in Suffolk”. One of those racing homilies I never tire of hearing.

Accustomed over the years to seeing a massive line-up way over there, a mile along the A14 just behind the service station, this year’s contingent went the reverse way all the 2m2f of it in dribs and drabs. It used to be a stream, and you wondered how they could survive four-and-a-half miles.

I’m sure it’s the smallest field for at least in my consciousness. I restricted myself to going back until 2019 – Wikipedia doesn’t list the size of field, but while there were a couple of near misses with 24 last year and 21 plus two non-runners on the day in 2022, otherwise it has been invariably 30-plus, certainly since 2019 in any case. [Certainly since at least 1997 – Ed.]

That 2019 race went to Willie Mullins with his star hurdler Stratum and was worth 217 grand to Midas-touch owner Tony Bloom. How can a race with this amazing history have declined by more than half in money terms in just six short years?

Part of that irrelevance, no doubt, reflects the enormous strides made by its Irish counterpart, run two weeks earlier with a full 30-horse field. That race carried a first prize of more than 300k whether you count it in £ or Euro.

Ours was a mere pittance in contrast but was well enough patronised by Joseph O’Brien and previous winners Willie and Emmet Mullins, Charles Byrnes as well as Tony Martin. He, apart from doing the job with Leg Spinner in 2007 also had a hand (at least) in the win of his sister Cathy O’Leary with Alphonse Le Grande last year while he was serving a ban – but not one severe enough to stop him celebrating afterwards on the winner’s rostrum.

The Irish on Saturday were 2nd,3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th from their ten representatives, while winner Beylerbeyi, fourth placed Divine Comedy (Harry Eustace) and seventh home Belgravian (Andrew Balding) did at least intrude on the invaders’ expected party. Certainly, the watchers around me were astounded that neither Willie Mullins nor Joseph O’Brien had the winner.

But such is the power of their two stables in flat race staying contests that between them they supplied 14 of the 30 starters at the Curragh two weeks previously including winner Puturhandstogether for O’Brien in the J P McManus colours. I doubt a 4lb penalty would have stopped him off 86 on Saturday (including the penalty) if he hadn’t had bigger fish to fry.

And so to the winner. I saw Ian Willims for a few minutes before he saddled Beylerbeyi for the race. I had been amazed that his five-year-old was as short as 7/1 for a race of this calibre and suggested his handling of the gelding had been remarkable, but he said, “We’ve got to see if he stays yet.”

Until July, I had Beylerbeyi firmly pitched as a middle-range miler; indeed apart from two unsuccessful runs in novice hurdles at the end of last year the longest trip he had ever encountered was one mile one and a half furlongs around Wolverhampton.

Williams loves acquiring chuck-outs from top French stables, most notably Francis-Henri Graffard – not a bad place to buy from – and Beylerbeyi, although a winner first-time at two, from four runs for Jean-Claude Rouget’s top yard, was picked up for only €7k and knocked down to Williams.

Like many trainers, he finds it harder to get his horses’ ratings to drop even after a series of unsuccessful runs, so he put the horse in the care of less-fashionable Patrick Morris, and the adverse effect happened, 13lb off for four defeats, upon which he entered the Williams team proper.

It took 11 runs starting from and ending on 62 before Beylerbeyi’s initial victory – point taken! – in June last year over seven furlongs at Wolverhampton. Within weeks that had transformed into a hat-trick with victories over seven again and then a mile at Doncaster. Three more runs preceded one further win, in the outing over the extended nine furlongs I mentioned earlier, back at Dunstall Park.

He was still racing at around a mile when he reappeared this year and then, in July, he was third when tried over one mile two and a half furlongs at York. Then it was another hat-trick, all upped to 1m4f. You would still hardly regard that as sufficient evidence for eyeing the Cesarewitch and its 2m2f slog.

Beylerbeyi is by Invincible Spirit, sire of many high-class sprinters and milers, and I doubt his breeders Al Shaqab Racing would have predicted a race like Saturday’s as on their radar. But the sire does have a good win percentage with the smaller group of his progeny that have tried 1m6f and above. When Ian moved him up to 1m6f, he finished strongly when second at the Doncaster St Leger meeting and then was an eye-catching third at Newbury.

But here he was, running over half a mile further than ever before, no wonder the trainer’s apparent uncertainty. Beylerbeyi broke slowly and Billy Loughnane held him up last of the entire field for much of the trip. He moved him out just as Hughie Morrison’s Caprelo had started his run a couple of lengths ahead of him on the outside and, when that opponent’s promise quickly evaporated, Beylerbeyi simply got stronger.

Caprelo’s rider Tyler Heard had been instructed to sit in the pack and hold on to his mount. He told Hughie afterwards, “They seemed to be going so slow; I was worried they would get away from me”. Morrison pointed out yesterday morning that in fact this was the fastest race on the day compared with standard times on a day when the Dewhurst and two other Group races for two-year-olds were contested. I can further tell Hughie that this was the second-fastest Cesarewitch of this century!

So just when the Irish hordes, headed by Joseph’s Dawn Rising with a run timed to perfection it seemed by Oisin Murphy, and Willie’s Bunting (William Buick), whose transit was troubled, seemed to have it between them, along came Beylerbeyi.

Loughnane, on the outside of what promised to be a three- or even four-horse conclusion, utilised the speed that won Beylerbeyi so many races at around a mile and he was soon clear, going away from his field at the finish.

With such races as the Chester Cup and Ascot Stakes among Williams’ favourites and both on his palmarès, expect Beylerbeyi to be aimed at those and maybe more ambitious targets next year. One regret Williams might have is that he didn’t give the five-year-old a third jumps run. His mark might even have been lower than he’ll get after tomorrow’s re-think.

Loughnane has 106 wins in the portion of the year that decides the Jockeys’ Champion with Oisin Murphy way out in front on 140 and guaranteed to collect his prize on Saturday at Ascot. Over the whole year, Loughnane has a remarkable 167 victories. Still only 19, he is destined for many jockeys’ titles of his own.

One former champion, Ryan Moore, has had to sit out a good portion of the important autumn this year as the number one for Coolmore. In his stead Christophe Soumillon hasn’t been received with universal joy by some of the people around the team.

His success in France last weekend was enough to quell some of the criticism, but now back on UK soil and despite big wins on fast-improving and now 1,000 Guineas favourite Precise on Friday and unbeaten Pierre Bonnard, impressive in beating stablemate Endorsement in the 10-furlong Zetland Stakes the following day, the chatter continued.

One said, “He’s okay with steering jobs or in France, but I reckon he’s been beaten in seven photo-finishes on Coolmore horses since York.”

The 44-year-old’s riding of Gstaad in the Dewhurst Stakes, the race that probably would have had the Aidan O’Brien colt in pole position for the 2,000 Guineas next May had he won, also drew criticism.

While James Doyle on the Andrew Balding-trained 25/1 chance Gewan raced prominently throughout the seven furlongs, Soumillon allowed Gstaad to drift back into centre-pack in the middle of the race and had several positions looking for gaps before getting into second in the last furlong. He was beaten by three-parts of a length.

A contemplative and solitary Ryan surveyed the paddock before the race, and I would love a penny for his thoughts on how it panned out. It did make a £350,000 difference in the gap between the two protagonists for the trainers’ title. O’Brien still holds a £630k lead over Balding, but a round million would have felt more secure going into a mouth-watering British Champions Day at Ascot next Saturday.

At least, with the weather set fair, we should have unusually decent ground for this fixture when if Delacroix, on his final appearance, should win the Champion Stakes it will all be done and dusted.

- TS

Cesarewitch next port of call for East India Dock

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East India Dock is being primed for one more outing on the Flat in the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap before attentions turn to making his mark in the staying division on his return to hurdles.

James Owen’s dual-purpose star was third in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and wasted little time securing a valuable prize on the level when scooping the Chester Cup in May.

Having felt another prestigious event went begging when sixth in the Northumberland Plate, Owen has his eye on the historic Newmarket marathon on October 11 before switching focus back to timber, where he will have an exciting new target.

“East India Dock has had a small break and is now back in and we’ll aim at the Cesarewitch with him,” said Owen. “He’ll go straight there.

East India Dock ridden has excelled in both codes
East India Dock ridden has excelled in both codes (David Davies for The Jockey Club/PA)

“I feel we missed a chance in the Northumberland Plate and the ground may have been on the lively side for him at Ascot, but Newcastle was our chance.

“It was one of his best runs on figures, but annoyingly he didn’t get a great run round, he got caught wide and shuffled to the back of the field.

“A great big pot on home turf, when hopefully by then they will have had a bit of rain, we think will be ideal and then back over hurdles we will campaign him as a Stayers’ Hurdle horse – I’m sure he will stay well and he gives himself every chance to.”

While East India Dock has key business on the Flat to attend to before changing tack, Owen has already identified the hurdling starting point for stablemate and fellow dual-purpose performer Burdett Road.

Burdett Road will head to Newcastle when the jumps season begins
Burdett Road will head to Newcastle when the jumps season begins (Mike Egerton/PA)

Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle has been pencilled in as the first stop for the Champion Hurdle runner-up over timber, whose season once again will be geared around an appearance in the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day showpiece.

“Burdett Road’s having a nice break and we might give him one prep run on the Flat before going for the Fighting Fifth,” continued Owen.

“He’ll take the Champion Hurdle route again and will be running in all the big two-mile hurdle races en route to Cheltenham.

“He did very well last year and it will be very tough again, but he’s entitled to be in all those big races and hopefully he can be very competitive in them.”

Dance To The Music strikes for Appleby and Loughnane

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Dance To The Music maintained her unbeaten record for Charlie Appleby with a narrow Group Three verdict in the Newsells Park Stud Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket.

The filly was a length winner under Billy Loughnane on the Rowley Mile back in May and the duo were reunited on the July course, being sent off an 11-4 chance upped to seven furlongs.

Loughnane sat behind pacesetter Venetian Lace but had enough up his sleeve in the dying strides to make sure Dance To The Music held off the late charge of Princess Petrol by a neck, with Venetian Lace half a length back in third.

Appleby knows the family well having trained the winner’s brother Space Blues to win three Group Ones, culminating with Breeders’ Cup Mile glory in 2021.

The Godolphin handler said: “That was very pleasing. She is a filly who is a full-sister to Space Blues and so your heart sometimes rules your head when you get involved with these pedigrees. She is so much more forward than Space Blues, who didn’t run until November at Nottingham.

“This filly came out in the spring and Billy rode her that day on the Rowley Mile. He said she was very weak and raw, which she was really. We have given her all the time to do what she needs to do at this stage of her career and the step up to seven – we felt it was the right time to do it.

“She has that turn of foot as well which Billy used today. When you have got a Charlie Johnston horse on the front end, you have got to respect that and sit close to its girth. Billy said I was never going to outstay one of theirs, so he used that acceleration he had underneath him, and I think that was probably the winning of the race.”

Appleby believes speed could be Dance To The Music’s forte, adding: “What we saw with Space Blues, as he got older and stronger he got quicker. I think this filly will do the same. Billy said she is still raw and weak and I think she is only going to improve with time under her girth.”

Paddy Power cut Dance To The Music to 14-1 for next year’s 1000 Guineas, but Coral left her unchanged at 20-1 for Classic glory.

Zanthos could take on the colts in the Solario Stakes after a cosy three-length victory in the Tattersalls £40,000 EBF “Newcomers” Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

A €1million breeze-up buy in May, Zanthos was sent off the 4-5 favourite for trainers Simon and Ed Crisford and the result never really looked in doubt as Oisin Murphy’s mount eased away from Classic Cuvee with the minimum of fuss.

Paddy Power make Zanthos a 25-1 chance for next year’s 1000 Guineas and Simon Crisford hopes she will rank highly.

He told Racing TV: “She showed a nice turn of foot, lots of quality, she’s a very good-looking filly and her mind is very good as well now. I think she’s a filly that will take us to the top table, hopefully.

“We will talk to Shaikh Khalid (of owners KHK Racing) first but the Prestige will come too quick in two weeks’ time, don’t really want to step her up to a mile just yet for the May Hill so maybe we’ll look at something like the Solario Stakes against colts at Sandown. The timing of the race is perfect for her, three weeks today.”

Silent Love tastes Listed glory in Chalice Stakes

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Charlie Appleby is planning a step up to Group-race level with Silent Love following her hard-fought victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Chalice Stakes at Newmarket.

Placed on her first two starts before making it third time lucky at Kempton in June, the Dubawi filly was 7-4 favourite to claim Listed honours on the July course in the hands of Billy Loughnane.

Having raced keenly during the early stages of the mile-and-a-half contest before making her move, Silent Love had to dig deep late on, with Jane Temple a willing adversary.

There was little to choose between the pair as the post loomed, but Silent Love saw out the race best to prevail by half a length, with Karmology four and a half lengths further behind in third.

Speaking on the Godolphin website, Appleby said: “I told Billy before the race that Silent Love would stay, but not to commit her too far out if he could help it.

“He felt the ground was a bit tacky and he would have won by a couple of lengths with proper soft ground. He was quite impressed with the way she saw it out.

“We have a race in mind at Deauville, the Group Three Prix Lady O’Reilly, and this should hopefully give her a nice progression on to that.”

Loughnane went on to complete a double aboard the Ian Williams-trained Beylerbeyi (9-4) in the Turners Park Group Ltd Handicap.

Other winners on the card included 11-2 shot Inis Mor, who looked destined for bigger and better things after making an impressive start to her career in the Durcan Bloodstock Pat Smullen Memorial EBF Fillies’ Novice Stakes for David Menuisier and Sean Levey.

Charles ‘working on’ producing a contender for the Derby

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The King has said he is working on producing a runner for one of the greatest spectacles in the racing calendar – the Derby.

Charles’s comment came when he and the Queen visited the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, after touring the nearby National Stud.

There they met the stallion Stradivarius, the champion stayer who retired to take up breeding duties after accruing over £3million in prize-money across 20 victories, including three Gold Cups at Royal Ascot.

The couple went on a meet and greet with the public after more than 1,000 people flocked to the Suffolk town’s centre and the King, who is receiving ongoing cancer treatment, spoke about his health.

The King meeting the public in Newmarket
The King meeting supporters in Newmarket, Suffolk (Darren Staples/PA)

Lee Harman, 54, from Bury St Edmunds, said: “I asked him how he was, and he said he was feeling a lot better now and that it was ‘just one of those things’.”

After telling Charles about his own cancer issues, Mr Harman said: “He asked me how I was and I said ‘I’m all good’, I got the all clear from cancer last year.”

Thoroughbreds owned by the late Queen won four out of the five Flat racing classics – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, the Oaks twice and the St Leger – with only the Derby eluding her.

Now it appears the King, who took on Elizabeth II’s stable of horses with his wife, is aiming to have a thoroughbred ready for the premier Classic, having had Desert Hero finish third in the 2023 running of the St Leger at Doncaster.

King and Queen looking at a grey horse at the National Stud
Charles and Camilla admire a horse during a visit to the National Stud in Newmarket (Chris Radburn/PA)

As he toured the Jockey Club Rooms, a retreat for members and the public, he chatted to his racing manager John Warren, Jockey Club staff and members, and some of the chairs of racecourses run by the club, which include Newmarket, Epsom, Aintree and Cheltenham.

Brian Finch, chairman of Epsom Downs Racecourse, said after speaking to the King: “We were talking about him getting a Derby runner and he said ‘we’re working on it’.

“Everybody is hoping the royal family will have a Derby winner soon.”

Monday Musings: Deception

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There are funny camera angles for close finishes on a number of tracks, but until the past week or so, I’d never put Newmarket’s July Course into that category, writes Tony Stafford. Then, three times at least, as the horses flashed over the line, the apparent leader in the race to the line, was usurped by a horse or horses racing nearer the stands side.

It happened when the horse I was cheering for, William Knight’s Royal Velvet, had control of her two closest rivals in the final strides before the conclusion in a race the week before last. What happened next, the shot actually on the line, told a totally different story.

The same thing transpired on Friday when the £1.9 million yearling, Charlie Appleby debutant Distant Storm, appeared to have been outdone (on his outside) by Aidan O’Brien’s fellow newcomer Constitution River, but again the online camera left us in no doubt.

Then again on Saturday, in the Bunbury Cup, a 13-runner affair rather than the usual maximum 20, resolved in favour of William Haggas’ More Thunder, who also had a narrow margin to spare. We’ve often mused how often William Haggas goes into big-money handicaps with short-priced favourites. More Thunder was a 6/5 shot in a race where they often go maybe 6/1 the field.

That he should so narrowly get the better of the Ian Williams-trained Aalto, a 40/1 outsider, means no doubt the rise in his mark can be if not minimal, too little to prevent a follow up in another big money handicap.

Williams, also, is a terrific target trainer and he certainly had his eye on the money on offer this last week. His Oneforthegutter picked up Friday’s big prize, the bet365 Trophy over 1m6f, having judiciously employed stablemate Dancing In Paris, runner-up previously in the Northumberland Plate, to ensure a strong gallop.

William Knight isn’t slow to learn. Just a week after Royal Velvet’s near miss he brought out Suzy Hartley’s four-year-old filly again and this time William Buick kept the stands side route for her challenge, again looking less emphatic in the running than at the conclusion.

After being on the conventional side of the track on Friday, I switched to the marquee side – something of an oasis – on Saturday and the ‘on the eye’ view offered no confusion at all. Buick was well in control on Royal Velvet throughout the last half-furlong.

Talking about in control, Buick and his principal employer Charlie Appleby had a meeting to savour, with three apiece on each of the first two days and a concluding double on Saturday, meaning the jockey had three trebles.

The O’Brien / Appleby and Ryan Moore / Buick battles also came down in favour of the home team when Superlative Stakes favourite Italy was easily upstaged by Saba River, both colts coming on after comfortable debut wins.

It was always going to be Italy, in the race where we first saw the true potential of City of Troy two years ago, that would be favourite to justify his status; but Saba River got the stands run while his rival was pushed into the middle of the course. More surprising perhaps than the result was the 6/1 starting price of the winner, who was less than half that price in the morning.

The future progress of the two principals on those two juvenile events on successive days will be something to savour for the rest of the year.

It’s probably a little unkind to leave mention of the July Cup to this stage of the article, so apologies for Richard Hughes not to register the trainer’s first Group 1 win courtesy of the hard-working and obviously talented No Half Measures in the Pat Gallagher colours to confound his 66/1 starting price. The winner’s rating of 105 was 13lb below that of favourite – and last year’s 2,000 Guineas winer – Notable Speech, but he didn’t ever look like joining in the Godolphin win spree.

Ratings and handicap form are too often taken literally when assessing the top sprints, but with around 3lb to the length at 5f and 6f, any minor interruption to a horse’s progress can bring apparent no-hopers into the argument.

Given a peach of a ride by veteran Neil Callan, who said he was amazed how well he was going coming to the last furlong, No Half Measures had to pounce on Mick Appleby’s Big Mojo, a worthy successor to the stable’s Big Evs, and just outstayed his rival.

Pondering the race afterwards, Mick was anything but depressed. “I’m sure if it had been 5f or today’s trip over a less testing course, I’ve no doubt Big Mojo would have won. He’ll be very hard to beat in the Nunthorpe next month.”

As I said earlier, I watched the early races, though not the July Cup, from the other side of the track and counted in excess of 40 strides across the full width. Of course, with its busy summer programme, the track is divided in two but is still more than wide enough. For some reason though, in bigger fields they seem to cluster up and cause each other unnecessary difficulties as the action hots up.

Richard Hughes was a brilliant rider at the top level and while his training career until Saturday has had fewer top-end triumphs, it has been one of unfussed steady progression.

From his third season, in 2017, Hughesie has never fallen below 41 wins, and six times he has been between 50 and last year’s highest figure of 64. The big prize on Saturday pushed him comfortably over the £1 million prizemoney figure for the first time and it’s now four years in a row that he has set new personal scores in that regard.

It is very likely that at his present strike rate, the tally of 42 wins could reach 65 and bring another personal best for this man who, as the son of Dessie Hughes, the long term top Irish jump jockey and then trainer, he therefore was bred for the top.

It was fitting that Neil Callan, whose young son Jack has already ridden 16 winners, would be the vehicle to give Hughes his first Group 1 win. They also teamed up with Richard’s best previous win with Calling The Wild in the 2023 Northumberland Plate.

The three (so far) 2025 heatwaves have brought fitness difficulties for trainers at home in getting their horses onto grass gallops and facing fast ground at most tracks. Most years, trainers have been up in arms when rain has fallen on watered tracks causing wildly different conditions than were anticipated beforehand.

Among the moans about ground being too firm, there was always a strand of complaint, usually drowned out by the majority, saying that the fast ground horses that undoubtedly do exist, were being victimised.

At least this summer the fast-ground horses can enjoy a rare time when opportunities abound. Anyone with a garden – unless you have a hosepipe ban – will tell you that when you water your lawn, later the same afternoon it will have dried out again.

Similarly, if your horse is in the last race at a track where they have put some water on and you don’t want it too firm, hard luck. My already mentioned walk across the July Course posted as “watered, good to firm”, revealed a healthy cushion of grass. Some trainers I’ve been speaking to of late have been surprised to find that some of the horses they had marked down as needing soft ground, surprisingly have won races on firm. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, as they used to say.

- TS

Notable Speech handed York target after July Cup eclipse

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Charlie Appleby may seek a happy medium with Notable Speech after his experimental sprint run in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup Stakes ended in defeat.

Last season’s 2000 Guineas winner has got his head in front only once since that Classic success and has seemed to be faltering towards the end of his one-mile assignments this season.

He was therefore scaled back to six furlongs to see if that would trigger a return to form and though the distance posed an unknown, he was still well fancied as the 85-40 favourite under William Buick.

The Group One contest was not to be the scene of his comeback, however, and he ultimately finished fifth to leave his trainer pondering a stab at seven furlongs next.

He said: “Will genuinely sounded disappointed, he said he’d thought he’d done everything right and then at the business end he just didn’t finish.

“We’ve been seeing the same thing at a mile so maybe we’ve got a look a bit harder at him, I don’t know.

“It was always going to be hard to jump to make an assessment after his first time sprinting at this level.

“I see no reason not to meet halfway at seven (furlongs) and go to York, which was always our plan.

“If the horse comes out of it well, and I see no reason why he won’t, we’ll head to the City of York Stakes.”

Of stablemate Symbol Of Honour, who was eighth under Oisin Murphy, he added: “Symbol Of Honour really doesn’t like the Rowley Mile, we’re nowhere near the Rowley Mile but he still wasn’t handling the track.

“Oisin still said to me that he’s a Group One sprinter in the making so he’ll carry on sprinting, he’ll go to Haydock or somewhere like that. A slick track will suit him perfectly.”

Connections of the Mick Appleby-trained runner-up Big Mojo were thrilled with their colt’s effort and are planning a step back to five furlongs for the remainder of the campaign.

“I’m absolutely delighted with him. We’ve tried him over six this year, we’ve been brave,” said owner Paul Teasdale.

“Today was always going to be a tough ask but he did fantastically well. I’m really proud of him, I thought he’d just about got it but not quite, I’m still delighted.

“The King George, the Nunthorpe, the Flying Five – we’re in all of them so we’ve got some options.

“He travels so well, he can withstand the pace and he’s got a great finish in him.

“He won the Molecomb last year, he’d be delighted to go back to Goodwood.

“He’s really maturing into a top-class horse.”

Aidan O’Brien’s Whistlejacket, who was well supported in the lead up to the race, finished 12th at odds of 13-2 and may be due an easy few weeks after he was out of luck at Royal Ascot too.

The trainer said: “It was a good, strong pace and he got back a little bit. We’ll see where we’ll go, 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, so that’s what we might do. A little break and we might have him back for Haydock or something like that.”

Newmarket Eyecatcher Wild Desert can gain Superlative compensation

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Wild Desert may have had to make do with minor honours behind his stablemate in Newmarket’s Superlative Stakes, but he left the distinct impression that he will be winning big races in due course.

A runaway winner on his Haydock debut in May, the son of Too Darn Hot was then narrowly beaten at long odds-on on the July course last month and jockey bookings suggested he was the second string stepping up to Group Two level over the same track and trip.

Interestingly, he went off a shorter price than the winner Saba Desert and he would almost certainly have made more of a race of it but for suffering interference when delivering his challenge and he passed the post in third. Compensation may await in a race like the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood.

No Half Measures stuns July Cup rivals

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Big-money buy Distant Storm delivers on debut at Newmarket

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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

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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

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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.”