Inisherin heads six individual Group 1 winners in very strong My Pension Expert Expert July Cup

Tom Eaves has hailed Saturday’s My Pension Expert July Cup favourite Inisherin as “the best I’ve sat on”, and that’s praise indeed from a jockey who has already won some of the biggest sprints in the world.

Newmarket’s £600,000 Group 1 centrepiece, which is sponsored for the first time this year by My Pension Expert, is part of the 35-race QIPCO British Champions Series and is widely acknowledged as the sprint championship of Europe. It has attracted no fewer than six individual Group 1 winners, plus another five who won at Group 2 level, so in such a strong field Eaves is taking nothing for granted.

However, he is understandably looking forward to getting back on board last month’s impressive Commonwealth Cup winner, who after winning in great style from Lake Forest and Jasour will attempt a double achieved by Muhaarar in 2015 and by Shaquille 12 months ago, but in which six other winners of Ascot’s newest Group 1 were beaten, with Caravaggio and Perfect Power particularly disappointing.

Eaves won a Prix de l’Abbaye and a Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Glass Slippers and a Prix Maurice de Gheest on Brando, on whom he was also placed in two July Cups out of five. Both also were also trained by Kevin Ryan, while he won another  Abbaye on Bryan Smart’s Tangerine Trees.

He’s the best I’ve sat on, so I’m looking forward to Saturday

He said: “Inisherin is a very good horse. He’s the best I’ve sat on, so I’m looking forward to Saturday. He’s got a very good mind and a lot of pure ability. I was placed twice on Brando at biggish prices so you’d hope that Inisherin would have an even better chance as favourite, but it’s a very strong Group 1.”

Ryan has confirmed this week that all has gone smoothly in Inisherin’s preparation and, worryingly for the opposition, that “he seems to be getting quicker”. 

Eaves, whose partner Amy is Ryan’s daughter, said: “Kevin is a very good trainer of all types of horses, not only sprinters. Look what he did with The Grey Gatsby for example. He treats them all individually and he leaves no stone unturned, but it’s fair to say his record with sprinters is exceptional.” 

Last year’s top sprinting two-year-old Vandeek was widely expected to be Inisherin’s toughest opponent at Royal Ascot, despite having lost his unbeaten record when beaten four lengths into third behind him at Haydock, but he missed the Commonwealth Cup with an abnormal blood count.

However, joint trainer Simon Crisford believes he has the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner right again now and he is looking forward to getting him out again. 

Crisford said: “It was unfortunate that Haydock had 30mm of rain on top of watered ground, and Vandeek was lacking a bit of match practice compared to the competition. We were disappointed he didn’t win, but there was a pretty good reason for it and he still ran an okay race.

“It was massively disappointing that we couldn’t run him at Royal Ascot, because the horse needs racing. It slightly put us on the back foot, but he quickly returned to peak health. He’s looking good and training nicely, so we are all set for Saturday, but obviously we are one race short of where we’d have liked to have been, which isn’t ideal coming into these championship races.”

He added: “Inisherin was mightily impressive at Royal Ascot and the three-year-olds look pretty strong. The older horses also bring plenty to what I’d say is a very good July Cup, so Vandeek is going to have to show us the same sort of level as he was showing last year. But James (Doyle) has sat on him a couple of times recently and he’s displaying all of the right signals.”

Ed Bethell’s Regional made huge strides last year and picked up a major prize on his final start in the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, where several of these were behind. He has been second on both starts this year, to Mitbaahy when conceding a penalty in the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh, and to high-class Australian challenger Asfoora over an inadequate looking five furlongs in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Bethell said: “Regional has been absolutely brilliant for us. Having a horse like him for the big days is what we all do it for. He’s a legend to have around.

We’d be delighted if it was good ground by Saturday

“He ran a blinder at Ascot, and coming back to six furlongs at Newmarket will suit him down to the ground. I just hope it dries out. He hasn’t run on ground that’s been officially soft since we bought him at the end of his two-year-old season, but we ran him once at Epsom when I think it was softer than they said it was and he got a bit of wheelspin. We’d be delighted if it was good ground by Saturday.”

Veteran Art Power is a regular in these races and was fourth here both in 2021 and again last year before gaining an overdue and well-deserved first Group 1 win in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot in October, where he belied his odds of 40-1 to beat favourite Kinross by a neck, with Swingalong fourth and Vadream further back. 

Kinross, a fellow seven-year-old  who was third to Shaquille here last year, had won the same Ascot race the year before and made a highly encouraging reappearance on the all-weather at Newcastle a fortnight ago. He’s very much a player too.

Teenage riding sensation Billy Loughnane gets a big opportunity here when he partners eight-year-old Khaadem for Charlie Hills, for whom he won a £100,000 handicap at Sandown on Saturday. It’s less than two years since Loughnane partnered his first winner, but he ran away with last year’s apprentice title and achieved another notable milestone when enjoying a first Group-race win and also a first at Royal Ascot on Rashabar.

Khaadem, who was fourth here in 2020 and fifth last year, repeated last year’s win in Royal Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, where he had Duke Of York Stakes winner Millstream back in third, with Vadream, stable-mate Mitbaahy and Art Power further back. Neither Oisin Murphy, who rode him that day, nor regular rider Jamie Spencer are available here, and Hills wasted no time in snapping up Loughnane.

Aidan O’Brien, seeking a sixth win in the race for an outright record, saddles Irish 2000 Guineas third River Tiber, who has since been unplaced in Royal Ascot’s Jersey Stakes. Last year’s Coventry Stakes winner was only third behind Vandeek in two Group 1 sprints at two, but O’Brien has had this race in mind for him for some time and his early July Cup winners Stravinsky (1999) and Mozart (2001) had also contested the Jersey Stakes.