Ryan Moore riding Alice Springs won The Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse on July 8, 2016 in Newmarket, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images
Ryan Moore riding Alice Springs won The Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse on July 8, 2016 in Newmarket, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images
Ryan Moore riding Alice Springs won The Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse on July 8, 2016 in Newmarket, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images
Ryan Moore riding Alice Springs won The Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse on July 8, 2016 in Newmarket, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

Sport

Dubai-based operation has never won the Group 1 race but hold a strong chance on Saturday.

Geoffrey Riddle

July 08, 2016

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Godolphin horse may benefit from quick ground today

Newmarket, England// Godolphin have never won the Group 1 July Cup and the boys in blue are relying on the fact that Jungle Cat will prefer lightning fast going on the July course today to snap that sequence.

The 1,200-metre sprint is sponsored by Darley, the breeding operation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE, and how the ruler of Dubai must covet a win in the race he has supported so diligently for so long.

Jungle Cat, who will be ridden by James Doyle, is Godolphin’s only entry in the 18-runner field, with Dubai interest also trained on Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Waady.

Sole Power, one of Meydan’s favourite sons, is also in the line-up, while Mongolian Saturday, the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner who was slated to run in the Al Quoz Sprint on World Cup night until he was hit by shipping fever, adds an international flavour.

Jungle Cat has won twice over the distance but has had to contend with unsuitably soft ground for much of the European turf season.

Trainer Charlie Appleby is looking forward to more suitable conditions.

“He is in great order and I am looking forward to having him back over six on a sound surface,” he said after Mise En Rose won a fillies’ handicap here yesterday.

“These sprint races are very competitive, but I am confident that he will give a good account of himself.”

Godolphin are not the only connections who will have welcomed the new track record set by Alice Springs on good-to-firm ground in the Falmouth Stakes yesterday, where Usherette, Godolphin’s overwhelming favourite, was sixth of the seven runners.

Limato and Magical Memory are two horses who like the going quick and boast better form than Jungle Cat.

Limato will be once again partnered by Harry Bentley, and Frankie Dettori will be pinning his hopes on a first win in the £500,000 (Dh2.37 million) contest on Magical Memory, who will be the former Godolphin rider’s 20th ride in the race.

With Diamond Jubilee Stakes winner Twilight Son, a stablemate of Limato’s, also taking his chance, and last year’s three-time Group 1 victor Air Force Blue and Quiet Reflection looking to build on her impressive Commonwealth Cup win at Royal Ascot it is a race packed with quality.

No wonder for the last 11 years the winner of this 140-year old event has been the top-rated sprinter in Europe.

sports@thenational.ae

Godolphin