Juddmonte Day on the Rowley Mile and the big highlights of the three-day meeting are finally here.
The seven-race card is filled with quality races including two Group 1 races the Cheveley Park Stakes (1425) and the Middle Park Stakes (1500), the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes (1350) and the famous Cambridgeshire Heritage Handicap (1540), plus three other quality contests.
We begin with a quick list of tips from Newmarket, and we’ve pulled out some reasons for why we’ve picked our selections further down the page.
Don’t forget to check out the full racecard, results and live odds in Planet Sport’s racing live centre.
Good luck and please gamble responsibly.
(Please be aware selections could become non-runners after article’s first publication)
13:15 (Newmarket) Ghost Run
13:50 (Newmarket) Luther
14:25 (Newmarket) Babouche
15:00 (Newmarket) Shadow Of Light
15:40 (Newmarket) Roi De France
16:15 (Newmarket) Wild Angel
16:45 (Newmarket) Granger Bay
Ghost Run relished the step up in trip when a narrow winner of a competitive nursery at Doncaster.
Trained by Andrew Balding and will appreciate the stiff seven furlong journey in these conditions and is taken to defy a 5lb rise in the British Stallion Studs Ebf ‘Jersey Lily’ Fillies’ Nursery Handicap.
The threat will come from three-time winner, from her past four starts, Naina who cannot be ignored racing off 7lb higher than when successful at Yarmouth in latest outing.
The Charlie Fellowes-trained Luther will take some stopping in the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes.
The Bedford House handler has made no secret of the regard in which he holds this son of Frankel and he has done nothing wrong in three starts so far, with wins at Salisbury and Haydock sandwiching a narrow defeat to New Century in a slowly-run Stonehenge Stakes at the former venue.
New Century certainly had the run of the race in front that day and in any case gave the form a major boost by landing a valuable Grade One event in Canada a couple of weeks ago.
Luther was seen in his true light when dominating his rivals in the Ascendant Stakes last time out and he more than merits this shot at Group Two honours on the Rowley Mile.
Babouche is expected to put the seal on her unbeaten campaign with victory in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes.
The Ger Lyons-trained filly has carried the Juddmonte silks to a hat-trick of wins so far, adding to her wide-margin debut success at Cork with back-to-back triumphs at the Curragh.
Having displayed a good attitude to go with her undoubted talent when seeing off the more experienced Camille Pissarro in the Group Three Anglesey Stakes in July, Babouche was pitched in against the boys at Group One level in last month’s Phoenix Stakes and it was impossible to be anything but impressed by the way she readily dispatched of the subsequent Prix Morny hero Whistlejacket.
Aidan O’Brien’s Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine of two weeks ago Lake Victoria is clearly a major threat, but this is a fairly quick turnaround and Babouche might be the fresher of the pair, while there is also a question mark over whether Lake Victoria will be as effective dropping back to six furlongs.
Whistlejacket undoubtedly sets the standard in the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes, but it may pay to take a chance on the less exposed Shadow Of Light.
While Whistlejacket is a hardened juvenile at this stage, having won three of his six starts since making his debut in April, Shadow Of Light did not run until July and has more scope for improvement.
Charlie Appleby’s juvenile won on his introduction at Yarmouth and followed up on Newmarket’s July Course without much fuss, and there was not much wrong with his latest effort when runner-up to Cool Hoof Luke in the Gimcrack at York.
That form looks pretty sound, with the third-placed Symbol Of Strength winning a Group Three since, so connections of Shadow Of Light will be optimistic ahead of his bid to provide Appleby with a first win in this Group One contest since Charming Thought struck gold a decade ago.
Roi De France catches the eye as a likely improver in the bet365 Cambridgeshire.
Joint-trainer John Gosden has saddled a record five winners of this prestigious handicap, with the top-class Lord North his most recent victor in 2019.
It might be fanciful to suggest Roi De France can go on to scale those heights, but he has yet to finish out of the first two in four starts to date, with a clear-cut win on his penultimate start at Windsor followed by a slightly luckless run on his handicap debut at Yarmouth last week.
He travelled like the best horse in the race that day, but was unable to pick up sufficiently when the gap eventually came and was beaten three-quarters of a length.
With a stronger gallop assured in this more competitive and bigger field, expect an improved performance from a horse who is almost certainly better than his current rating of 95.
The Charlie Appleby-trained Too Darn Hot filly Wild Angel looked a sure-fire future winner when a promising third debuting over 7f at Kempton.
May get off the mark with that experience under the belt in the Blandford Bloodstock Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.
Softening ground will pose no problems for Granger Bay who won in testing conditions over seven furlongs at Ascot.
A significant climb in weights will demand more, but could prove equal to the task in the Stradivarius First Foals 2024 Handicap.
Telemark also handles soft ground and commands respect on the back of a narrow handicap success at Doncaster.
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