Limato heads 59 entries in the Darley July Cup

Harry Bentley celebrates winning the July Cup on Limato. Picture: Racingfotos.com

Limato is on course to run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and Darley July Cup despite hurting himself when running below-par in Dubai in March.

Most assumed the softish ground was to blame for Limato’s tame effort in the Al Quoz Sprint but trainer Henry Candy revealed on Wednesday there was more to it than underfoot conditions.

“He was in a bit of a mess with pulled muscles when we got him back home and it has been a long process putting him back together,” he said. “I have just given him plenty of rest and he looks back to his old self now.

“He had his first leg stretch on the grass since he travelled back from Dubai yesterday [Tuesday] morning. He did not work with anything at all special but the manner that he did it, and his general attitude, made me think that he is back in good form.”

Limato was a dazzling winner of the July Cup last summer and features among 59 entries revealed today for the £500,000 feature on July 15.

Candy said: “I plan to run Limato next in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and, unless anything goes wrong, the Darley July Cup is where we will then be heading.

“I think that he put up a career best when he won the race last year. It’s a very important race – any Group 1 is fantastic, but the July Cup is one of the best, if not the best, sprints of the year, and it’s a wonderful race to win.”

Before his run in Meydan, Candy had told Champions Series he had never trained a better horse.

Additional Group 1 winners among the entries include Quiet Reflection and The Tin Man, both leading lights in the Champions Series last year. The former won the Commonwealth Cup and 32Red Sprint Cup, while the latter landed the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes last October.

Other intriguing candidates are Caravaggio, Acapulco and, Blue Point.