Summer

The Ritz Club July Festival - summer racing at it’s finest

Fashion and style in abundance behind the grandstands: thrills and breathtaking action on the track. It’s a heady mix and is why the Ritz Club July Festival at Newmarket has become one of East Anglia’s must-attend events.

This year proved no different as the crowds saw three days of glorious racing, if not always glorious weather at the July Course. The highlight of the meeting was, of course, the Darley July Cup, which this year was part of the Global Sprint Challenge for the first time. Perhaps it was fitting, then, that it went the way of a foreign raider.

France’s Marchand D’Or is regarded by many as the best sprinter in Europe and he boosted those claims by snatching victory by a head after being last with two furlongs to go. His power-packed burst was sufficient to secure a short-head success to create a little piece of history: Freddie Head became the first man to ride (Anabaa in 1996) and now train a July Cup winner.

Marchand D’Or wins the Darley July Cup. Picture by Steve Cargill

“I’m delighted!” professed Head. “It’s a great thrill having won it as a jockey and now as a trainer - you can’t ask for more.”

In the Festival’s other Group One feature - the UAE Hydra Properties Falmouth Stakes - Nahoodh and Frankie Dettori powered through the rain to score a decisive victory. Dettori performed his trademark flying dismount after the race and was at his best during the event steering the filly home and making amends for her unlucky fifth in the stanjamesuk.com 1000 Guineas.

Nahoodh and Frankie Dettori power home to victory in the UAE Hydra Properties Falmouth Stakes. Picture by Steve Cargill.

Winning trainer Mark Johnston said: “"They say one swallow doesn't make a summer, but when it is big enough it does! A Group One winner makes a big difference."

The other highlight on the opening Bond Street Day was the win for Mick Channon and Please Sing in the Group Two Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cherry Hinton Stakes. “When the rain came today I thought we had a chance,” Channon confessed. “I am pleased everything came right today and she showed she is a decent filly.”

Please Sing, pictured right. Photo by Steve Cargill.

This year’s meeting won’t be forgotten in a hurry by Tom Dascombe as the up and coming trainer bagged his first ever Group winners with Classic Blade and Firth of Fifth.

Firth of Firth battles to victory. Photo by Steve Cargill.

Classic Blade made all to win the TNT July Stakes on Lanson Ladies’ Day by a short head from Sayif and the following day Firth of Fifth repeated the tactics to win the Weatherby’s Superlative Stakes.

A jubilant Dascombe said: “Without a shadow of a doubt this is the highlight of my career so far.”

The second day of the meeting also saw Lucarno return to winning ways under a masterful ride from the front by jockey Jimmy Fortune.

Lucarno. Picture by Steve Cargill.

Fourth in last year’s race, Lucarno turned the tables on last year’s conqueror Papal Bull to leave trainer John Gosden eyeing the biggest prizes.

“That was a great effort with a 5lb penalty,” Gosden admitted. “The plan for the season was always to keep him for the second half and look at races like the Arc and Japan Cup.”

The Festival also provided memorable performances from Andrew Balding who landed a second day double, while there was a Ladbrokes Bunbury Cup win for Little White Lie, trained by John Jenkins in Royston.

Newmarket’s Managing Director Stephen Wallis said: “Overall, we had three wonderful day’s racing and some magic moments.”