9th-Jul-2016

The July Cup has been all about Magical Memory and Twilight Son, the re-match.  They have dominated the preamble and the betting for Saturday’s race really since they pulled up at the end of the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot.

Both horses are big players obviously, and Twilight Son did us a good turn at Ascot, but I think that Limato has been a little under-rated by both the media and the market, and I am backing him at 6/1 this morning.

Trained, like Twilight Son, by Henry Candy, Limato probably put up the best performance of his career when he won the Group 2 Park Stakes last September over seven furlongs, but he was hugely progressive over six furlongs before that.

They did try him over a mile in the Lockinge Stakes on his debut this season, but he was probably a non-stayer that day.  Candy talked about persevering with him over a mile, but you always felt that he needed to drop down to six or seven furlongs to be seen at his best again, so it is good that they are going down this route now.

He is just a top class horse, a fast horse with a serious turn of foot.  He was unbeaten in four runs over six furlongs as a juvenile, and he has continued to progress since then to be a top class racehorse.  The drying ground is in his favour, and he could run a big race.

Of course, the top two in the market are big players too, but outside of those and Limato, I think that there are weak pockets in the market.  I think that Quiet Reflection, a three-year-old filly, is vulnerable, and that Air Force Blue has a lot to prove now.  It would be some training performance by Aidan O’Brien if he were to get him to win the July Cup now.  Profitable is a great friend of ours, but he is a five-furlong horse for me, unlike Lethal Force, who won this race for Clive Cox three years ago.

LIMATO WON (ADV 6/1, SP 9/2)