Spirit can repeat last year’s July Cup success

There’s been plenty of evidence from the first two days of Newmarket’s July meeting that those horses that raced prominently at Royal Ascot are struggling to reproduce their form.

That may sound like an ‘in’ to today’s racing but the featured July Cup stands out as an exception as every one of the 14 runners raced at Ascot and most got competitive at some stage.

The Golden Jubilee Stakes won by Starspangledbanner was almost certainly the best sprint ever run in these isles and 10 of those in behind the winner re-oppose this afternoon. The performance produced by the Aidan O’Brien trained winner was simply stunning as he flashed from the gates and made every post a winning one.