G1 July Cup

Group 1 winner No Half Measures (Cable Bay) has been retired according to trainer Richard Hughes. The R. P. Gallagher runner's biggest claim to fame was her victory in the G1 July Cup Stakes. She also won the G3 Trophy Stakes and Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud in 2024. Bred by Bumble Bloodstock and Mrs. S. Nicholls, she retires the winner of seven of her 16 starts with $735,634 in earnings. "We were thrilled with the run, we might have been a little bit unfortunate that it didn't come up soft...

Newmarket's July Festival winds up on Saturday, with the feature G1 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup the stage for the potential reinvention of Godolphin's Notable Speech (Dubawi). Luckily for him and unfortunately for the rest of us, he has no international heavyweights to deal with in a renewal that looks a bit light on its usual quality. With the main protagonists of the Commonwealth Cup, Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and King's Stand all absent, this looks one of the most winnable editions for some time and it will...

Last year's 2,000 Guineas winner Notable Speech heads a list of 16 contenders for Saturday's G1 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup at Newmarket, after being supplemented on Monday at a cost of £36,000. Trained by Charlie Appleby, Notable Speech has raced exclusively over a mile in his 10 career starts to date, with last year's G1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood featuring among his other significant victories. Last seen finishing fourth in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, the son of Dubawi now faces a two-furlong drop in...

Al Basti Equiworld Dubai has been announced as the new sponsor of the G1 July Cup, the centrepiece of the three-day Debenhams July Festival at Newmarket. The £600,000 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai July Cup will take place this year on Saturday, July 12, offering the first opportunity in Britain for three-year-old sprinters to take on their older counterparts at the highest level over the distance of six furlongs. Al Basti Equiworld Dubai is already the sponsor of the Newmarket Owners and Trainers Facilities, across both the Rowley Mile and the...

KHK Racing's multiple Group 1 winner Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) is "extremely well" after his G1 July Cup third and will head to the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest next month, co-trainer Ed Crisford confirmed on Friday. "He's come out of the July Cup extremely well, we're really pleased with him," said Crisford, who trains with his father Simon. "It's all systems go at the moment for the Prix Maurice de Gheest. He wasn't really right that first day on that heavy ground at Haydock, the July Cup was...

After Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Inisherin (GB) (Shamardal) had crossed the line in Royal Ascot's G1 Commonwealth Cup, all logic pointed to Newmarket and Saturday's G1 My Pension Expert July Cup. Imperious there, as he had been in Haydock's G2 Sandy Lane Stakes the previous month, Kevin Ryan's latest sprinting luminary is unbeaten over this six-furlong trip and open to abundant improvement from a family which breeds class acts at a ridiculous rate. Whatever his obvious merits, the fact is that with the ground drying out by the hour...

It remains all systems go for the rematch between Inisherin (GB) (Shamardal) and Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) after both horses featured among 13 confirmations for Saturday's G1 My Pension Expert July Cup at Newmarket. Inisherin was an emphatic winner when the pair met in the G2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock in May and Kevin Ryan's colt followed that effort with another top-class performance when also winning the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last time. He is a general 7-4 favourite to confirm himself the outstanding sprinter in...

Billy Loughnane is set to be in Group 1 action at Newmarket this weekend when he bids for the first top-level success of his burgeoning career in the My Pension Expert July Cup. Loughnane was among the winners on Saturday's Coral-Eclipse card at Sandown, notably landing the Coral Challenge aboard Cicero's Gift (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) for Charlie Hills, who is set to reward the young rider with the mount on one of his two potential July Cup runners, the Jim and Fitri Hay-owned pair of Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire})...

Royal Ascot winners Inisherin (GB) (Shamardal) and English Oak (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) both feature prominently in the betting for the G1 My Pension Expert July Cup after the latest entries were released on Tuesday. A total of 23 horses remain in contention for the first big clash of the generations at the six-furlong trip, which will be run at Newmarket on Saturday, July 13 and offers total prize-money of £600,000. Inisherin ran out a dominant winner of the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, having been sent off a...

Twenty-one colts remain in contention for the G1 Betfred Derby following the latest scratching deadline for the Classic, which will be run at Epsom on Saturday, June 1. Aidan O'Brien, who saddled a record-extending ninth winner of the Derby when Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was successful in 2023, could be mob-handed this year with up to seven runners. His entries include the outstanding two-year-old of 2023, City Of Troy (Justify), who will be trying to emulate Auguste Rodin by bouncing back from a disappointing return to action in...

The Jockey Club and 1/ST Racing have partnered to increase international participation in several of their respective turf races, the two companies announced on Thursday. The aim of the partnership is to create links between historic races in the UK and high-profile U.S. turf races over two different distances. The winner of the May 4 $200,000 GII Charles Whittingham S. at Santa Anita will gain an automatic berth and travel incentive to run in the £750,000 G1 Coral-Eclipse over the same 10-furlong distance at Sandown Park on July 6. Whichever...

There have been many super-sprinters that have won Newmarket's G1 July Cup, but probably none that have managed to do as much wrong as Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}-Magic {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) as he placed himself among the very best in Saturday's renewal. Up in the air as the stalls opened and slowly away again as he had been in Royal Ascot's G1 Commonwealth Cup, Julie Camacho and Steve Brown's freakishly-talented 3-year-old was quickly telling Rossa Ryan that he wanted to assume top dog status. Lesser mortals would have...