Cox gambles on Profitable lasting Cup trip

Profitable will be seeking a second successive QIPCO British Champions Series win on Saturday. Picture: Racingfotos.com

Clive Cox has admitted the “sixth furlong is something we are uncertain about” after Profitable was on Monday supplemented at a cost of £40,000 for the Darley July Cup at Newmarket on Saturday.

Profitable has been unstoppable over furlongs this campaign and already struck once in the sprint category of the QIPCO British Champions Series this summer, having won the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.

However, that was over the minimum trip and Profitable, one of 19 confirmations for the feature, will have another furlong to cover at the weekend.

“Winning the Darley July Cup three years ago with Lethal Force was a very memorable occasion and it fills me with excitement to be going back there on Saturday with a horse in tip-top order like Profitable,” Cox said today.

“He is a really wonderful horse to deal with as he has the most amazing temperament, and he did a very nice piece of work last week. The fact that Newmarket is forecast to have a dry week was also a consideration during some long and healthy discussions whether to supplement.

“There are no two ways about it, the sixth furlong is an unknown and is something that we are a little uncertain about.

“He has been extremely successful over five furlongs and since the Nunthorpe Stakes at York is far enough away we were very keen to give him a run in between then and Royal Ascot.

“Last year he ran in the Nunthorpe after a break and I feel that he is clearly better with a busy racing programme. So the choice was between running him at Goodwood [in the Group 2 King George Stakes] with a 5lb penalty or running at Newmarket without one.”

The son of Invincible Spirit has only been asked to run further than five furlongs once in his 15-race career – when fifth to the subsequent Darley July Cup hero, Muhaarar, in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup last June.

His potential opponents on Saturday are led by the Henry Candy-trained pair of Twilight Son, already a dual Series winner over six furlongs, and Limato, beaten favourite in Group 1 company on both of his last two starts and dropping back in distance following a fifth-place finish in the Lockinge Stakes over a mile.

Muhaarar’s handler, Charlie Hills, could be represented by both the Group 2 Duke Of York Stakes winner, Magical Memory, a close fourth to Twilight Son in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stake when his chance was compromised by a slow early pace, and the King’s Stand runner-up, Cotai Glory.

The Darley July Cup is the first opportunity for the best three-year-old sprinters to prove themselves against older horses and the younger generation is represented by a trio of challengers from the yard of the Irish Champion trainer, Aidan O’Brien, headed by last year’s Champion Juvenile, Air Force Blue, plus Karl Burke’s recent Commonwealth Cup winner, Quiet Reflection.