By Tony Calvin - 7 July 2025
We have three early-closers on Saturday; the Bunbury and July Cups at Newmarket, and the John Smith’s handicap at York.
Of course, the Group 1 600k 6f July Cup is the class highlight of a stacked weekend, and on Monday morning we had 23 in the race.
It is fair to say there was no stand-out and several sets of connections would have been fancying their chances of netting the 340k first prize.
It was [9/2] the field at that stage, with Flora Of Bermuda and Symbol Of Honour heading the betting, though some firms had them in as short as 4s and 3s respectively.
Then Godolphin tweeted at 8.38am that “following a very pleasing piece of work over the weekend, the decision has been made to supplement Dubawi’s 2,000 Guineas hero Notable Speech for the G1 July Cup.”
I bet that worried ante-backers of owner/stablemate of Symbol Of Honour at the time, but he was actually one of the first horses confirmed on Monday morning.
As soon as that Notable Speech news was out, one firm went 5s Flora Of Bermuda and 7s Symbol Of Honour.
Now, we certainly do have a form-stand out in the race, though his peak mark of 122 (after his 2024 Guineas win) is down to 118 after his tame Queen Anne fourth.
It’ll be interesting to see how he is priced up at his first attempt over 6f.
Indeed, he has raced solely at a mile since making his debut over that trip at Kempton in January 2024. He is a general [7/2] chance and only 4s in a couple of spots, which looks tight enough to my eye.
It appears we now have 16 in the race (it looks like we have another supplemented horse, at a cost of 36 bags, in the field, in addition to Notable Speech, but I don’t know who it is, as yet – it is Godolphin’s Spy Chief, trained by John Gosden – a pacemaker perhaps?) and I think the following nine have come out: Aramram, Art Power, Elite Status, Khaadem, Kind Of Blue, Kinross, Starlust, Prime Art and Arizona Blaze.
Some big names in there.
I will be back when I has seen the revised field and prices later.
I will do the double-entries on the 11 ITV races after that, too.
It takes bloody ages but it is now live.
Latest going etc for Newmarket, York and Ascot are also below.
I started looking at the race over the weekend and Big Mojo stood out to me at 20s in three places on Monday morning.
Now, he has a mountain-cum-molehill to find on ratings but there is a strong suspicion that the 3yo is a lot better than he has been able to show on his last two starts, and the Classic generation get 6lb from their elders here.
I am quite surprised that Big Mojo has only raced eight times because he had a fair media profile after winning the Molecomb at [25/1] last season – he ended up finishing a length fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint over 5f, too – and it strongly appears that 6f is his trip nowadays, and 6f on the July Course could be a perfect speed fit for him.
He didn’t get the breaks when a close fourth to Symbol Of Honour at Haydock after his reappearance Ascot win, but that was nothing compared to the nightmare trip he suffered in the Commonwealth Cup last time.
A 5-length seventh could have easily become a placed effort at the very least if Hollie Doyle had secured a clear run from before the final furlong marker – at which stage he was pretty much last of the 21 runners, and didn’t Social Media let us know afterwards – and he has the potential to improve massively here.
He will need to, mind you, as well as taking to the July course which he has never experienced.
He was just a neck behind Whistlejacket (8s here), who had a similarly less-than-ideal run through, and last year’s July Stakes winner is also a major player here.
The 20s remains after Notable Speech and Spy Chief were inserted.
Both of those are serious rivals – and the Gosdens’ Spy Chief, the speedy Jersey runner-up, who only made his debut on May 5 as a 6s poke in a Kempton maiden, is very interesting, if not being used as a pacemaker (make your own Ombudsman jokes here) – but you can easily argue that the nine that aren’t rocking up on Saturday were a far more troublesome collective to deal with.
I think Big Mojo is a decent win-only angle at 20s.
Still available in three places, if effectively only one if you get my drift.
It sounds like Godolphin and Wathnan Racing are set to run three apiece – so each-way punters will be getting four places on the day with most firms, with the current numbers expected to hold up well – and the latter outfit’s main hope is [5/1] chance Flora Of Bermuda.
She is an improved model this season and she is clearly a major contender along with The Boys In Blue’s Symbol Of Honour (as short as 4s fixed-odds but 15.5 to pennies on Betfair), improving and five from six over 6f.
If you are of a forgiving nature then you can easily argue that Inisherin is overpriced at 7s in two places.
Inconsistent, undoubtedly – he actually went off the [11/8] favourite when fifth in this race last season – but probably as talented as any of these on his day, as a Commonwealth Cup win highlights, as well as a reappearance defeat of Flora Of Bermuda at York.
I probably wouldn’t lay the 7s myself, for all he is clearly hit and miss.
Actually, I see he is [11.0] in an illiquid exchange Betfair market (remarkably less than 9k matched at 7.45am on Tuesday for a market that has been open for weeks).
Go AKbets.bet for all the weekend prices.
Going: Good to firm, good in places
Going stick: 6.9, 7am Wednesday (was 7.2, Tuesday 7am)
Wednesday morning course update: 5mm of rain on Sunday. Forecast: Dry, with daytime high temps of 20/21c on Wed. Increasing to 27c for Thu and 28c for Fri and Sat.
Watering history: 45mm applied to the July Course since Friday, 30mm to the Beacon Course (races of 1m 2f+), further 15mm being applied to the Beacon Course this morning.
Weather: largely dry and very warm
Rails: Stands Side Course in Use
Stalls: 6f, 7f and 1m – Centre, All Other Races – Inside
Going: Good, good to firm in places
Going stick: 6.8, Tuesday, 3.45pm
Wednesday morning course update: A dry, cloudy early Wednesday morning. Recent rainfall of 4mm rain Sunday, and 0.2mm early Monday morning, making 4.4mm in last 7 days. Met Office outlook for the week ahead; Dry and cloudy Wednesday morning, sunny spells developing in afternoon, 26 degrees. Dry, sunny and increasingly warm from Thursday, 28 degrees increasing to 31 degrees on Friday and Saturday. Live links to the Met Office and our weather station are available on the York Racecourse website www.yorkracecourse.co.uk by clicking Going Report details on the home page.
Weather: largely dry and very warm
Watering: Irrigating at night to replace moisture lost. 2mm irrigation applied Monday night. 3mms round course and 4mms straight course Tuesday night.
Going: Good, good to firm in places
Wednesday morning course update: Dry overnight to 8.00am Wednesday. 5mm rain recorded on Monday. 7.4mm rain recorded over the past 7 days. A dry and warm forecast for this week with temps due to increase through next week getting to 30c by race weekend. For live weather station and Going info please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing
Watering history: Will water whole track again on Thursday morning. Watered Straight Course 10mm Monday and 10mm Friday, watered Round course 3mm Sunday and Saturday nights and 5mm Friday night.
Weather: largely dry and very warm
1.40pm Newmarket (19 entries; 20 maximum field); Dancing Flower, Eleanor Shelby, Hello Isla, Ice Sovereigns, Orion’s Belt, Precise, Princess Billyboy (due to run on Thursday), Secret Echo, Snow Light, Uncertainty
2pm York (16; 22): El Matador, Point Lynas, Raafeed, Remmooz, Talis Evolvere
2.12pm Newmarket ( 13;20): Estrella Divina, Maw Lam, Miss Information, Revelance, Rogue Sensation, Royal Velvet
2.22pm Ascot (11; 20): Dark Tornado, Never So Brave, Point Lynas
2.35pm York (14;20) : Forager, Jakajaro, Miss Attitude, Redorange, Rhythm N Hooves, Seven Questions
2.50pm Newmarket (24;20): Holguin, Myal, Miss Information, Streets Of Gold, Talis Evolvere, Fifty Nifty, Our Havana, Dorney Lake
3.10pm York 26;22): Archivist, See That Storm, Have Secret, Liberty Coach, Austrian Theory, Qitaal
3.25pm Newmarket (24;20): Accentuate, Archivist, Bedouin Price, Brave Mission, Elarak (due to run on Thursday), El Matador, Excellent Believe, Hot Cash, Hymnbook, Lakers, Meblesh, Miami Matrix, Parole D’Oro ,(due to run on Thursday) Raafedd, Seaforce, Seagolazo (due to run on Thursday), Teroomm
3.45pm York (9;22): Arabian Crown declared to run on Thursday, Military Academy
4pm Newmarket (10;20): Tricky Tel, Zavateri declared to run on Thursday
4.35pm Newmarket (16;20): NONE (this week)
4.50pm Ascot (30; 20): Blue Day, Bolo Neighs, Emperor Spirit, Harvanna, Jakajaro, King Of Stars, Miss Attitude, Redorange, Rhythm N Hooves, Seven Questions, Sir Les Patterson, Sondad, Twilight Jet, Zayer declared to run on Thursday
BETTING UPDATES ARE IN BOLD AFTER EACH RACE SUMMARY 1.20pm – Here is hoping Act…
GROUND AND WEATHER DETAILS (weather forecast March 11th-13th – updated 7am Wednesday) GOING: Good to…
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