One of the biggest three-day race meetings on the flat racing calendar is the July Festival at Newmarket. The aptly named July Course hosts the action, with the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes, Falmouth Stakes and the July Cup races headlining the festival.
The 2024 July Festival of racing at Newmarket runs from 11th to 13th July, and here’s a look at what is to come from this brilliant meeting.
About Newmarket Racecourse
Newmarket is in Cesarewitch and is affectionately known as the HQ of British flat racing. Not only is the historic racecourse there, but the town also has more training yards than any other location in Great Britain. Newmarket features two of England’s most famous flat courses, the Rowley Mile and the July Course.
The venue hosts almost 40 races across the year, with nine Group 1 fixtures, and is, perhaps most famously, the home of the 1000 and 2000 Guineas classics. The undulating ground is the most distinct feature of the Newmarket course itself, with a famous dip leading to a tough uphill finish, providing a stiff test of stamina at the end of races.
Thursday 11th July – Ladies Day
The 2024 July Festival kicks off with Ladies Day on Thursday. This is a high-profile day of fashion, with Newmarket being the place to be seen. However, it’s what happens on the track that most people at Newmarket are there for.
Bahrain Trophy Stakes (Group 3)
The July Festival begins with the Bahrain Trophy Stakes, a 1m 5f trip for three-year-olds. This is an important race because it gives yards plenty to think about in pushing horses forward to the Group 1 St Leger Stakes.
Kingdom of Bahrain July Stakes (Group 2)
The July Stakes is a 6f blast for two-year-old colts and geldings. The race earned its Group 2 status in 2003, and is a big affair, with its counterpart for the fillies being the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes. Irish jockeys Pat Dobbs and Rossa Ryan have each scored a win in two of the last three renewals.
Princess of Wales’s Stakes (Group 2)
The Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stake is for horses three years and older at a distance of 1m 4f. The race was established in 1894, and six of the last seven winners of the Princess of Wales’s stakes have been four-year-olds.
The oldest winner since 1979 is Cavalryman, who was ridden to success by Silvestre de Sousa in 2013 from a 9/1 fourth-favourite position in a six-horse race. Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is usually heavy-handed for the race, but seeks his first win in it, with Continuous and Point Lonsdale potentially among his strongest hands in this year’s renewal.
Jockey Hollie Doyle, whose father Mark was from Clonmel, scored her first career Group success in the 2020 Princess of Wales’s Stakes on the back of Dame Malliot.
Friday 12th July – Festival Friday
Friday is Festival Day, with the highlight being the big Group 1 contest of the Falmouth Stakes.
Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2)
The first of the day’s two Group races is the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes. This is the boys’ equivalent of the preceding day’s July Stakes and was first introduced in 1947. It’s a great look at the two-year-olds, with many of the leading competitors going on to compete in the Cheveley Park Stakes back at Newmarket.
Clemmie, trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, was the most recent horse to land the season double of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and the Cheveley Park in 2017. O’Brien and Moore have teamed up for two wins in the last eight renewals of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.
All but two of the last 10 renewals have been won by the SP FAV. On the two occasions since 2012 that the winner wasn’t the favourite, it was a 20/1 shot that claimed the win – Lucky Kristale in 2013 and Pretty Pollyanna in 2018. However, 10 of the last 12 winners have come from the top three of the betting.
bet365 Trophy (Heritage Handicap)
The 1m 6f bet365 Trophy splits the two Group races on the second day of the July Festival and is a good contest for four-year-olds and above. There was a 5/2f winner in last year’s renewal, with Live Your Dream getting the score. Irish horses such as Divine Comedy, Red Flyer and Tides of War could be going in this year’s renewal along with Sir Mark Prescott’s True Legend.
Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (Group 1)
The Falmouth Stakes is a 1m run for fillies and mares. Hollie Doyle scored last year’s Falmouth Stakes on the back of 4/1 second-favourite Nashwa for trainers John & Thady Gosden. Just three of the favourites in the last dozen renewals have delivered the odds.
However, it’s still worth looking at the head of the market as eight of the last 12 Falmouth winners have come from the top three in the betting market. Heading the ante-post market for the 2024 renewal is the Donnacha O’Brien-trained Porta Fortuna who scored the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at this year’s Royal Ascot.
There could well be a tasty showdown between Donnacha O’Brien and his father Aidan, who has the ante-post second-favourite Opera Singer. Opera Singer found only Porta Fortuna too good in the aforementioned Coronation Stakes and the 2024 Falmouth is projected to come down to a big scrap between the two Irish trainers.
Only one of the last five Falmouth Stakes winners have claimed the victory after winning the Coronation Stakes at Ascot in their previous race. However, eight of the last 12 Falmouth winners had at least one previous run at Newmarket, something that Porta Fortuna has had, but not Opera Singer. It should be an epic clash.
Waiting in the wings to strike if things don’t go to plan for the O’Briens will be the likes of John & Thady Gosden’s Laurel and Running Lion, while Roger Varian’s Elmalka has shown good form this season.
Saturday 13th July – July Cup Day
On Saturday, the final day of the 2024 July Festival, the action gets turned up a few notches with the highlight of the July Cup.
Superlative Stakes
Before the headline act, there is other big business to attend to on Saturday, starting with the popular Superlative Stakes, a 7f juvenile sprint. The race was upgraded to Group 2 in 2005, and Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien got last year’s win with City of Troy, ridden by Ryan Moore. This was O’Brien’s fourth winner since 1999 inclusive.
Bunbury Cup
The Bunbury Cup is not a group race, but still one of the most popular at the Festival. The Heritage Handicap is named after the man who brought the 1000 and 2000 Guineas to Newmarket and is a 7f trip for three-year-olds and above.
Ireland’s Jamie Spencer won the 2022 renewal, pulling off a huge upset by getting 25/1 outsider Bless Him to the line first. This happened to be the first winner of the Bunbury Cup aged seven or older since Mine in 2006. Only two favourites have won the race since 2004.
July Cup
The action then moves on to the showcase fixture of the entire festival, the Group 1 July Cup, which was inaugurated in 1876. The Kevin Ryan-trained Inisherin has been leading the ante-post market after his big score in the Commonwealth Cup, delivering the odds as 9/4F at Ascot in June.
Vandeek is expected to be one of the main challengers in the field after a stellar juvenile campaign last season. The Aidan O’Brien-trained River Tiber, a beaten favourite last time out, should bring claims, as will Bucanero Fuerte from fellow Irish trainer Adrian Murray, who scored some big Group 1 successes last season.
There have been Irish successes in recent editions, with jockey Rossa Ryan leading Shaquille to victory last year, while Aidan O’Brien pulled off back-to-back wins with US Navy Flag and Ten Sovereigns in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
O’Brien is the joint most successful trainer in the race with five wins, standing alongside Vincent O’Brien, who was dominant in the race in the 1970s, and British trainer Charles Morton, who had success in the early 1900s.
All but one of the last dozen winners were aged either three or four, while two-thirds of the last 12 winners have been from the top three of the betting. The last six editions have alternated between a non-favourite and a favourite claiming the race, with 2022 winner Alcohol-Free the longest-priced at 14/1. As 5/2 JF Shaquille won last year, will the sequence hold in this specular race?
Newmarket July Festival Betting at TonyBet
The July Festival at Newmarket delivers some brilliant, rousing flat horse racing action and you can follow all the ante-post markets and day of the race odds at TonyBet. Look for race form in the Newmarket cards as well as a top selection of exotic bet options such as Quinella, Exacta and First 4, covering all the latest July Cup action as well as all Irish, UK and international racing.
