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U S Navy Flag followed in the footsteps of his stable's previous two three-year-old winners of the July Cup, Stravinsky and Mozart.
Newmarket’s three-day July meeting started on Thursday, with Advertise (remains on 110p) giving a boost to the Coventry form when winning the July Stakes by two lengths from Koncheck (up 2 lb to 103). Advertise was the clear form pick and didn’t have to improve to resume winning ways in ready fashion, and he remains capable of better with stronger pattern races likely to be on his agenda later in the season.
It was just an ordinary renewal of the Princess of Wales’s Stakes which was won by Best Solution (remains on 120). He had come up short at the highest level three months previously at Meydan, but bounced back to his best to win by half a length from Mirage Dancer (down 3 lb to 118). Best Solution will remain a force at this level, but will likely prove vulnerable back in Group 1 company; he is reportedly being aimed at the Melbourne Cup.
The Falmouth Stakes was the feature race on Friday and Alpha Centauri (remains on 127) put in another dominant display to supplement her Coronation Stakes victory. She cemented her place at the top of the miling tree this year with as good a display as we've seen in the Falmouth since it was upgraded to Group 1 status in 2004, and will continue to take all the beating, the Prix Jacques le Marios reportedly next on the agenda, while the Breeders’ Cup is on the cards later in the year.
It was an eventful running of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes earlier on the card, Pretty Pollyanna (111 from 97p) taking her form to another level to comprehensively reverse placings with the first two from the Albany. Her superiority on the day was exaggerated by the melee caused by runner-up Angel’s Hideaway (97) over a furlong out – Frankie Dettori received a 10-day ban for dangerous riding – but Pretty Pollyanna was still travelling best at the time, and deserves to be rated as the top two-year-old filly in Europe on the back of this
Quorto (112p from 99p) kicked off Saturday’s card in similarly dominant fashion, running out an impressive three and three quarter length winner of the Superlative Stakes, maintaining his unbeaten record, and emulating his sire Dubawi who won the race in 2004. There’s no doubt he’s one of the best juveniles we have seen so far this season, the National Stakes looking an obvious target if connections want to go up in grade right away, while longer term, he's likely to have no problem with the Guineas trip and probably further.
A high-class field went to post for the July Cup, featuring seven Group 1 winners, among them winners of the King's Stand and Commonwealth Cup, though the principals from the Diamond Jubilee were missing, as was the injured Harry Angel. There were a handful of disappointments, notably Blue Point (remains on 129), but it was an up-to-scratch effort from the front-running U S Navy Flag (up 5 lb to 125) who, like his stable's previous two three-year-old winners of this race Stravinsky and Mozart, benefited from the drop back in trip having been campaigned over further in the first half of the season. He seems to thrive on a busy schedule, but will reportedly be rested now ahead of a trip to Australia for The Everest (the world's most valuable turf race), this form close to the standard it took to win the inaugural running of that race last year.
It was a typically competitive renewal of the John Smith’s Cup at York on paper, but the race itself was skewed by tactics, rare for a contest of this nature to be dominated, not by a well-treated up-and-comer but by an exposed older horse that was seen to maximum effect, Euchen Glen (up 6 lb to 112) making all and only pressing on the gas pedal on the run to four furlongs out, plenty in behind not seen to best effect. It’s highly unlikely that Euchen Glen will get his own way to this extent again, given the company he'll be forced to keep, and will probably be one to take on from higher marks, for all that he is a likeable sort. The runner-up Thundering Blue (113 from 108) wasted no time bouncing back to form, doing well under the circumstances to come from so far back, the way the race developed not playing to his strengths, and he’s a handicapper to keep on side.
Over in France, the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris took place at Longchamp and was won by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Kew Gardens (118p from 113p). He was back down in trip having won the Queen’s Vase the time before, but showed further improvement, and is very much going the right way now. His stamina's proven for a St Leger bid, though he could be facing high-class older rivals in the King George next at the end of the month.
