Native Cup bid excites Best
John Best is “very hopeful” of a big show from Kingsgate Native in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket on Friday.
The 2007 Nunthorpe hero put a lacklustre return to action firmly behind him when coming out on top in the Golden Jubilee at Royal Ascot.
Despite being returned at a huge 33-1, Kingsgate Native was never considered a bit-part player by Best, who is now looking forward to unleashing him again with his stamina for six furlongs no longer in doubt.
Best said: “He came back really well and he’s all ready for Newmarket.
“I don’t think the ground will affect him too much and it’s probably more about how it will affect the other horses.
“He ran on softer ground at Longchamp and has worked on soft ground. We think he’s OK on it but until you put them in a race on it you don’t really know.
“I think Marchand D’Or is a big danger, and it’ll help him, but we’re OK and we’re drawn 15 of 16,” he told At The Races.
“Fat Boy is next to us and there is plenty of pace around us, so we’re looking forward to it but there is now a hell of a lot of pressure on as everybody is expecting us to win.
“At Ascot they were expecting us to get beaten but I thought he was a crazy price for a horse that had won a Group One.
“We think he might have come on a little bit since the Golden Jubilee and I’m very hopeful.”
Along with Marchand D’Or, James Fanshawe’s Sir Gerry and the James Eustace-trained South African import War Artist are among the other well-fancied contenders.
The latter finished second in the Golden Jubilee last month and previously occupied the same position when finding Assertive just too strong at York.
Trainer Richard Hannon said of Assertive: “He looks good, his work has been good and I don’t think he’ll mind the ground however it turns out.”
Seachange, a multiple Grade One winner in her native New Zealand, was declared along with 15 others at the 48-hour stage.
However, trainer Graeme Sanders saddled her to finish fourth behind Nahoodh in the UAE Hydra Properties Falmouth Stakes on Wednesday and subsequently confirmed she had run her last race.
He said: “She was only put in the July Cup on Friday as a precaution and will now be retired.”
