IT’S some Darley July Cup today, the Commonwealth Cup 1-2 versus the Diamond Jubilee 1-2-3, the best of the three-year-old sprinters versus the best of the older sprinters. You could have asked for Battaash and Marsha and Lady Aurelia as well, but they are really five-furlong horses, and that would just be greedy anyway.

The three-year-olds are the exciting ones, the could-be-anything ones, and it will be fascinating to see how Caravaggio will fare against his elders. It will also be fascinating to see how Aidan O’Brien’s horse will fare against Harry Angel over the six furlongs of the July Course, significantly easier than Ascot’s stiff six furlongs over which he beat the Godolphin horse in the aforementioned Commonwealth Cup.

Caravaggio is the correct favourite, he is probably the most exciting horse in the race, he is one of the most exciting horses in training, and the Commonwealth Cup, the race in which he beat Harry Angel and Blue Point, was one of the races of Royal Ascot. Indeed, there is a chance that we will look back on it at the end of the season and nominate it as the race of the season.

The Scat Daddy colt is unbeaten in six runs, he won the Coventry Stakes and the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes last year, and he continues to progress. He has won on soft ground and he has won on fast ground and he has won on most things in between, including on the polytrack at Dundalk. The only negative about him this afternoon from a betting perspective is his price, in as hot a race as he has ever contested and taking on his elders for the first time.

His elders are good, the first three from the Diamond Jubilee are good, two of them multiple Group 1 winners now. The Tin Man was very good in winning the Diamond Jubilee, but there are reasons for believing that Limato could exact his revenge this afternoon.

Henry Candy’s horse was only third in the Royal Ascot race, but it was his first run since that write-off run on soft ground in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in March. He was on a bit of a recovery mission, and he ran as if he retains most if not all of his ability.

As importantly, there is the return to Newmarket, back to the July Course, back to the course and distance over which he put up what was probably the best performance of his life in winning the July Cup on this day last year.

The final piece of the jigsaw is the drying ground, changed to good, good-to-firm in places yesterday as three of the first four races dipped under Racing Post standard. That’s hoof-rattling ground, that’s Limato ground.

The Tin Man is a player, and Tasleet is a player, although he probably would have been helped by easier ground, and Harry Angel is a player, over Newmarket’s easy six furlongs. It’s all very fascinating but, from stall one, beside the stands rail that has been favoured all week, Limato could step forward again.

BUNBURY CUP

Tashweeq could also step forward in the Bunbury Cup. He is short enough now, he is only an 11/2 or a 6/1 shot, but it is easy to argue that he deserves his place at the top of the market. Winner of a listed race and fourth in the Dewhurst as a juvenile, John Gosden’s colt was off the track for the entire of his three-year-old year, and his return this year in the Group 2 Bet365 Mile at Sandown in April was not overly encouraging, but his next run, his latest run, in the Royal Hunt Cup was.

He raced in the near-side group at Ascot all right, but he raced towards the far side of the near-side group, towards the slowest of the ground in the centre. Despite that, he picked up nicely to challenge all-the-way winner Zhui Feng and he looked a real danger before his challenge just flattened out through the final 100 yards. He still kept on well to finish third, beaten a total of three parts of a length, with the first three nicely clear.

The handicapper raised him by 4lb for that run but, because this is an early-closing race, he gets to race off his old mark of 106. So he is 4lb well-in, and he is still lightly-raced, he has the potential to go even higher than his new mark of 110.

While he stays a mile all right, a strongly-run seven furlongs could be his optimum. As well as that, he is one for one on the July Course, he won his maiden there as a juvenile, and he proved at Ascot that he can operate on fast ground.

Jim Crowley is staying at Newmarket probably primarily to ride Tasleet in the July Cup, but he could have gone to Ascot to ride odds-in favourite Mutakayyef in the Group 2 Summer Mile, and it is another positive that he is at Newmarket to ride Tashweeq. All looks set for a big run.

Recommended

Limato 1 point win, 9/2 (generally)

Tashweeq 1 point each-way, 11/2 (generally)