Harry Angel primed for Darley July Cup

Harry Angel takes on Caravaggio for the second time in a superb renewal of the six-furlong G1 Darley July Cup, highlight of the third and final day of Newmarket’s July Festival on Saturday, July 15.
 
Three quarters of a length separated the two three-year-old colts in the G1 Commonwealth Cup over the same trip at Royal Ascot on June 23, with Caravaggio getting the better of the front-running Harry Angel in the closing stages, with another Godolphin runner Blue Point finishing a close third in a scintillating contest.
 
Harry Angel, trained by Clive Cox and ridden again by Adam Kirby, set a new course record for six furlongs at Haydock Park when powering to an impressive four and a half-length success in the G2 Sandy Lane Stakes on May 27.
 
The Darley July Cup presents the first G1 opportunity for the three-year-olds to tackle older opposition over six furlongs and the 10 runners for year’s race also include defending champion Limato and G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes winner The Tin Man.  Harry Angel is drawn in stall six.
 
Clive Cox said: “Harry Angel impressed me very much with the way he came out of the Commonwealth Cup and we are very much looking forward to running him again on Saturday.
 
“It was a great performance from Caravaggio at Ascot, but this is a different track and a different day.
 
“I am thrilled that Harry Angel is going to Newmarket in great nick and have been very pleased with him.”
 
Saturday’s card at Newmarket also features the G2 Superlative Stakes and Charlie Appleby saddles two colts in the seven-furlong contest for two-year-olds, Aqabah (William Buick) and Zaman (Adam Kirby), who were fifth and 13th respectively in the six-furlong G2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
 
Both two-year-olds had previously made a winning debut. Zaman recently ran on strongly to score by a neck in a Pontefract conditions race over six furlongs on July 3.
 
Charlie Appleby commented: “Aqabah ran a very creditable race in the Coventry Stakes and we are looking forward to stepping up in trip, which will hopefully bring some further improvement.

“Zaman put up a good, solid performance at Pontefract last time, when it looked like he was crying out for this distance.”
 
Aqabah, drawn three, and Zaman, from stall one, take on eight opponents.
 
Wokingham Handicap runner-up Steady Pace (Saeed bin Suroor/Josephine Gordon) lines up in another fiercely competitive handicap, the seven-furlong Bunbury Cup and is drawn 15 of the 20 runners.
 
Saeed bin Suroor said: “Steady Pace ran a big race when finishing second at Royal Ascot and I think that the return to seven furlongs will suit him.
 
“He is in good form and Josephine Gordon knows him well.”
 
Charlie Appleby and William Buick team up with Silken Dancer, who goes for the 12-furlong handicap after scoring well on his debut at Windsor on May 8, and Poetic Charm, a half-sister to Teofilo who has her first outing in the two-year-old seven-furlong maiden.