FUTURE STARS READY TO SHINE

Ian Heitman looks ahead to some top-quality action at Newmarket’s July meeting

- Ian Heitman

The Flat season’s summer festivals are in full swing with the biggest of them all, Royal Ascot, having just taken place, this article was written just before the start of the Royal meeting and no doubt plenty of the horses mentioned throughout this will have run in one of the six two-year-old races.

Newmarket’s July course is the venue for the next major festival, three days from July 13th to 15th, with a Group race and a maiden for two-year-olds on each day. Charlie Appleby and Richard Hannon have trained the most two-year-old winners at the meeting with 13 apiece, seven of Hannon’s winners coming in the Group races from 24 runners. Appleby’s winners have been more evenly distributed with four in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes, six in the fillies maiden and three in the colt’s maiden.

Aside from the prize money there isn’t too much incentive for winners of the Coventry Stakes or Norfolk Stakes, both Group 2 races, to be aimed the July Stakes, also a Group 2, as they have to carry a penalty and only two Coventry Stakes winners since 2000 have attempted the Group 2 double with Rajasinghe in 2017 faring much better finishing third than Red Clubs had done in 2005 when he finished seventh.

Horses who finished second in the Coventry Stakes have a good record in the July Stakes, since 2016, three have gone one place better most recently when Persian Force won in 2022.

Like the Coventry Stakes, only two Norfolk Stakes winners have attempted to win the July Stakes as well, Winker Watson was successful in 2007 whilst Approve finished fourth in 2010.

Two horses who finished second in the Norfolk went one place better in the July Stakes, Cardsharp in 2017 the most recent.