Morris booked for July Cup ride on Mongolian Saturday

Mongolian Saturday has been treated for an ulcer since his run at Royal Ascot. Picture: Racingfotos.com

Luke Morris will ride the American challenger Mongolian Saturday, in the Group 1 Darley July Cup on Saturday week.

Connections of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner revealed the booking this morning after the gelding had galloped over seven furlongs under his groom, Santiago Aragon, on Newmarket’s Adnams July Course. He was only asked to quicken up for the last quarter mile.

The Darley July Cup is the fourth of seven legs in the Sprint category of the QIPCO British Champions Series and carries prize money of £500,000.

Mongolian Saturday could finish only ninth of 17 in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot this month (beaten about five lengths) but there were mitigating circumstances.

“I am more experienced now and have learned that you can’t work your horses so fast here, especially uphill and on soft ground which takes a lot of energy. It’s very different to America,” Enebish Ganbat, trainer of Mongolian Saturday, said.

“Before Royal Ascot he went four furlongs in 43 and a half seconds and that was too much, it finished him.

“We also discovered after Ascot that he was suffering from a big ulcer but, thanks to the help of Tristan Sander [of Baker & McVeigh Veterinary Practice], we have been treating him ever since. I am not sure about winning the Darley July Cup but I am sure that he will run better than at Ascot.”

He also gave an insight into what big races in Mongolia are like.

“Unfortunately his owner will not be here to see him [in the July Cup] as the race clashes with the biggest meeting in Mongolia, staged near Ulan Bator, where some of the races are run over a 15-mile course and can have more than 700 runners.”