The Group Two July Stakes on the opening day of the July Festival at Newmarket has a patchy record when it comes to identifying potential Group One-winning juveniles. Just two of the past 10 – Advertise in 2015 and Shalaa in 2018 – subsequently winning at the highest level, although Ivawood (2013) went down by a nose in the Middle Park Stakes a few weeks later.
Rather more have struggled to win a race of any type after landing what was once seen as the most significant two-year-old contest of the season, but there is at least an interesting mixture of horses that ran at the royal meeting and lightly raced novice winners in this year’s renewal, so it is only fair to take a positive view for now.
