The Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes, the feature event on the opening afternoon of Newmarket’s July Festival, has not attracted a double-figure field since 2007 but it has been a difficult race for the punters all the same, with just one winning favourite since 2003.
The latest six-runner renewal could be another trappy contest, as Yibir and Mostahdaf dominate the betting but neither arrives with cast-iron credentials. Yibir has failed to add to his win in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf in three attempts this season and lost several lengths with a very slow start at Belmont Park last time, while Mostahdaf made no real impression on the well-ridden Broome at Royal Ascot last time and might yet prove to be best at a slightly shorter trip.
There is not much obvious pace in the race either but Living Legend (3.35), the third-favourite at around 10-1, beat Yibir under similar circumstances in the Jockey Club Stakes at the Guineas meeting and Ryan Moore, who steps in for the injured Joe Fanning on Mark and Charlie Johnston’s runner, could get an easy time of it on the lead. He looks the pick of the stable’s two contenders as the Johnston yard seeks a third win in this race in the last four years, and a seventh in all.
Newmarket 1.50 The form of last month’s Derby has been franked a couple of times already, in particular when Westover, third home at Epsom, romped away with the Irish equivalent at the Curragh, and there could well be another boost here with Masekela and Walk Of Stars both prominent in the betting. They were separated by more than 60 lengths at Epsom, with Masekela outrunning his 66-1 starting price to finish fourth while Walk Of Stars, a 12-1 shot, was tailed off and last of the 17 runners, but he had previously finished a close second in the Lingfield Derby Trial despite getting worked up beforehand and then hanging in the closing stages. A gelding operation after Epsom has hopefully gone at least some way towards ironing out his quirks and Charlie Appleby’s runner, who will be making only his sixth start on Thursday, still has time on his side with this step up in trip perhaps bringing further progress.
Newmarket 2.25 Form lines from three of the two-year-old events at Royal Ascot come together here, including the Norfolk Stakes, in which Brave Nation suffered as badly as any of the first four home when The Ridler, the 50-1 winner, veered left in the closing stages. Little Big Bear, meanwhile, won the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, while Persian Force was the runner-up in the Coventry Stakes, and the clock suggests that the latter contest may have been – marginally – the stronger of the three. At around 7-4, Richard Hannon’s colt can add weight to that theory here.
Doncaster 1.00 Infiniti 1.30 Dusky Prince 2.00 Sound Of Iona 2.35 Endeared 3.10 Sir Robin 3.45 Fresh Hope 4.20 Bungley
Newmarket 1.20 Ivory Madonna 1.50 Walk Of Stars 2.25 Persian Force 3.00 Khanjar (nap) 3.35 Living Legend 4.10 Mighty Ulysses 4.40 Enforced
Carlisle 1.40 The Navigator 2.10 Hurt You Never 2.45 Run This Way (nb) 3.20 Pureness 3.55 Jumhoor 4.30 Million Thanks 5.05 Fergie Time
Newbury 5.38 Thrave 6.08 Desperate Hero 6.38 Bodega Nights 7.08 Chef De Partie 7.38 Special Envoy 8.08 Wagga Wagga 8.38 Swiss Pride
Epsom 5.53 Caius Chorister 6.23 Bonnsie 6.53 Granary Queen 7.23 Prince Of Bel Lir 7.53 Delahoussaye 8.23 Rita Rana
Carlisle 2.45 Run This Way has blown a little hot and cold this season, with two lacklustre efforts sandwiched between a win and a second, but she is definitely a player here on her best form and is available at around 9-1 in a market headed by lightly-raced three-year-old Razeyna, a beaten odds-on favourite last time out at Chester in May.
Newmarket 1.15 Leadman 1.50 Reelemin (nap) 2.25 Lezoo 3.00 Contact 3.35 Inspiral 4.10 Nizaaka 4.45 Jojo Rabbit
York 2.05 My Little Queens (nb) 2.40 Zain Claudette 3.15 Yahsat 3.50 Asaassi 4.25 Snash 5.00 King Of Tonga 5.30 The Cookstown Cafu
Ascot 2.15 Parr Fire 2.50 Soulcombe 3.25 Atrium 4.00 Makinmedoit 4.36 Surrey Mist 5.11 Tanmawwy 5.45 Hathlool
Chester 6.00 Gabrial The Wire 6.30 Boom Boom Pow 7.00 Praiano 7.30 Betweenthesticks 8.00 Lockdown Lass 8.30 Late Arrival 9.00 Mellow Magic
Chepstow 6.15 Bug Boy 6.45 Astrophysics 7.15 Adaay In Asia 7.45 Devon Envoy 8.15 Connie’s Rose 8.45 Cliffs Of Freedom
Newmarket 3.00 This is generally one of the better three-year-old sprint handicaps of the summer and plenty arrive with scope for significant improvement, but it is still hard to get away from Khanjar, the likely favourite, at around 4-1. William Haggas’s runner, who was gelded over the winter, made short work of his field at Ripon first time up and posted a strong time in the process, which suggests that dealing with a 9lb rise is not beyond him.
