Newmarket Saturday
Al Basti Equiworld July Cup (Group 1)
NO Half Measures (Richard Hughes/Neil Callan) provided the biggest shock in the history of the Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld July Cup when winning at 66/1 at Newmarket last Saturday.
One of a trio drawn high who raced in a small group on the far side of the track, No Half Measures was always prominent and led a furlong out before keeping on well to deny Big Mojo (Mick Appleby/Tom Marquand) by a neck, with Run To Freedom (Henry Candy/Trevor Whelan) beaten two lengths into third having also raced in that far-side group.
Favourite Notable Speech travelled well, but edged left under pressure and found less than looked likely in finishing fifth.
No Half Measures won a Group 3 over five furlongs in the autumn, but is arguably better at six furlongs, with this victory taking her record at the longer trip to 21111. This was her first run at six furlongs since winning a listed race at Deauville last August and her success provided three-time champion jockey Hughes his biggest win since taking up training.
Hughes, who won the July Cup as a jockey on Oasis Dream, said: “It’s brilliant. It’s been a tough enough road to get to here.
“I think I’ll definitely appreciate it more than if I started with a good horse early on. I wouldn’t have appreciated it, and I didn’t appreciate all those good horses when I was riding. I just keep looking for the next one and was very fortunate in my riding career.
“There was very little pressure today really. Drawn 15 I wasn’t mad about, so I said to Neil ride her to be third and hopefully you’ll get a little bit of cover. At halfway, I thought she was going okay and then I just held my head as I couldn’t believe what was happening; I kept thinking she is going to get caught and I would have been pleased with second or third.
“Neil won the Northumberland Plate for me, and I don’t think I’ve given him a ride since! He’s a great go-to man for sure.”
On the importance of gaining a first Group 1 win as a trainer, Hughes concluded: “It’s a monkey off my back for sure. I can retire now saying I rode and trained a July Cup winner, which is really nice.”
SABA Desert (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) missed a beat at the start, but ran out a ready winner of the Group 2 bet365 Superlative Stakes, keeping out of trouble in a race where others got tangled up.
The 6/1 winner made his challenge on the stand side, while leader Venetian Lace drifted markedly to her left when coming off the bridle, causing stablemate Wild Desert and odds-on favourite Italy to switch course towards the centre of the track.
Italy (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) kept on again to grab second, but Saba Desert had made the best of his way home and was a length and a quarter to the good at the finish, with Wild Desert (James Doyle) another neck away in third.
Appleby said: “Saba Desert is a horse we liked from the get-go and were pleased with the way he did it at Sandown. He progressed from Sandown to here and we always try and find one for this race.
“He is a lovely deep-girthed horse, and we’ll work back from the Dewhurst; he’ll have a bit of a break now as he has a Group 2 penalty.”
Thunder rolls on
THE Bunbury Cup saw the red-hot 6/5 favourite More Thunder (William Haggas/Tom Marquand) beat 2024 winner Aalto in a desperate finish.
The opening fillies’ maiden, which produced 1000 Guineas winner Desert Flower 12 months ago, went the way of Richard Hannon’s promising Orion’s Belt (Ryan Moore), who made all for a three-and-three-quarter-length win having been sent off favourite at 15/8.
She could well reappear in the Lowther Stakes at York next month.
Ascot Saturday
NEVER So Brave (Andrew Balding/David Probert) took the step up to pattern class in his stride when winning the Cornish Orchards Summer Mile Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. Formerly trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Never So Brave was a ready winner of the Buckingham Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last month and was sent off a well-fancied 11/8 chance to win the Group 2 contest on the back of that impressive victory.
Initially held up at the rear of the field as Jamie Spencer stole a big lead on Point Lynas (Ed Bethell), Never So Brave made steady headway to tackle the leader in the straight and edged ahead in the final furlong to score by three-parts of a length.
Speaking on Sky Sports Racing, Andrew Balding said: “It was a bit nervy to be honest, because I was pretty confident coming into it that, if the horse relaxed, he was good enough to be winning today. He relaxed beautifully, but obviously he had to make that move a bit sooner than we would have wanted with Jamie loose on the lead. He’s a very good horse and I’m thrilled with his progression.”
York Saturday
THE Group 3 Silver Cup at York on Saturday provided another victory for the popular front-runner Al Qareem (Karl Burke/Clifford Lee), who responded gamely when challenged in the straight, picking up again to beat Samui (Gordon Elliott) by two and a half lengths at an SP of 4/7 favourite.
The winner is entered in the Ebor over course and distance next month, but that race was all but ruled out by Burke, who said: “He always seems to look as though they’re going to get him, but he just grinds it out; he’s so honest and a superstar of a horse to train.
“I’d say the weight will rule him out of the Ebor - presumably he’d get a penalty as well.
“The Irish St Leger has always been the target, and I think it’d be a nice race for him to roll the dice in.”
Drop in class works for Washington
The Listed City Walls Stakes over five furlongs fell to Washington Heights (Kevin Ryan/Shane Gray).
The 9/4 favourite has been keeping very strong company since landing the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket last spring, but he relished the drop in class here, which enabled him to dominate from the off and he proved determined when challenged inside the final furlong by Miss Attitude (Jack Channon/Rob Hornby), holding her challenge to score by three-parts of a length, and set himself up for another crack at the Nunthorpe Stakes here next month.
Legacy ‘Fox’es rivals
The 66th running of the John Smith’s Cup - the race with the longest continuous commercial sponsorship in flat racing - was won by Fox Legacy (Andrew Balding/P.J. McDonald), who tracked favourited Archivist for much of the race before going on over a furlong out and holding the late challenge of See That Storm (Ed Bethell/Callum Rodriguez) by a length.
Already a winner over the course and distance, the four-year-old is likely to have the nine-furlong Cambridgeshire on his radar in the autumn.