Cups Galore, Moore Woe and Poignant Place For Kauto
In our latest news round-up we look ahead to a brilliant Saturday with the July Cup, report on an injury to the greatest jockey of our time, and bid farewell to one of the greatest horses of any era.
Up For The Cups
It’s all about cups this Saturday. The Darley July Cup takes centre stage on the final day of the July Meeting at Newmarket. With the Ashes having started this week, we have our own England vs Australia clash here as Muhaarar takes on Aussie raider Brazen Beau and you can get odds of 10/1 on either!
Up at York we have the John Smith’s Cup on what is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year at the track. This one is for the handicappers who will do battle over the 1m2f trip. Solid recent form meets handicap plots in one of the toughest races of the weekend to solve.
Still not enough cups for you? There’s also the John Smith’s Silver Cup at York and the Bunbury Cup back at Newmarket. No cups at Chester but they do have a Silver Plate on offer in their big race.
Moore Down and Out …(but only for two days)
Another day in the life of the professional jockey. This week showed that even the best can’t escape the sometimes unpredictable consequences of sitting atop 1000lbs of horse flesh. An unfortunate incident on the first day of Newmarket’s July Meeting saw Ryan Moore’s mount Newton’s Cross throw something of a wobbler in the starting stalls. As a result the horse became trapped beneath the stalls in what looked a pretty unpleasant incident all round. Thankfully both horse and rider escaped relatively unscathed. Ryan Moore did however complain of neck pain following the incident and was taken to hospital. All looks to be well following precautionary scans, though Ryan will miss the final two days of the meeting. Given his competitive nature, missing the racing is probably the biggest pain in the neck of all for the current leader of the jockey’s championship.
Kauto To Rest At Kempton
Following the tragic loss of Kauto Star last week, Kempton Park looks set to be chosen as the jumping legend’s final resting place. As the scene of his greatest triumphs, winning the King George at the track not once, but an unprecedented five times there can be few more appropriate locations. Set to be placed below the magnificent bronze statue that already dominates the centre parade ring, it is somehow fitting that prior to racing, all runners at Kempton will now be in such close proximity to the greatest horse ever to grace the Sunbury venue.
