Ben Linfoot at Newmarket | The first of many for new super Star
Our man at the track Ben Linfoot reflects on a sizzling edition of the Darley July Cup, won by new sprinting sensation Starman who landed a first Group One for Ed Walker.
Starman blows minds in stellar renewal
We all want to keep the Darley July Cup in July, right? Run on the July Course in July, there is no reason to tamper with this template judging by the sport that was served up at Newmarket on Saturday afternoon. Starman won the 141st renewal and this was the race of the 2021 Flat season.
It had the full gamut of the sprinting division. Last year’s July Cup winner – and this year’s King’s Stand hero - Oxted. Last year’s Middle Park winner, Supremacy. The first past the post in the Commonwealth Cup, Dragon Symbol. The Sandy Lane Stakes and Wokingham winner, Rohaan. The Jersey Stakes hero, Creative Force. There were more.
Different strands of form wherever you looked. But it was the Duke of York Stakes that stood tallest, Starman’s victory over Oxted on the Knavesmire in May working out here as it did at York, and it’s hard to get away from the feeling a new sprinting star has been born.
Let’s look at the evidence.
The right horses filled the places with Dragon Symbol, demoted into second at Royal Ascot, taking the same position under Oisin Murphy in this, with Oxted, game Oxted, only third today as he bid to become the first back-to-back winner of this race since Right Boy in 1959.
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It’s so difficult to fend off the younger horses in this race and while Starman wasn’t another victory for the Classic generation - he is four despite his lack of experience - this was very much another example of untapped potential coming to fruition in this historic contest.
Only his sixth racecourse start, Starman has quickly risen to the very top, in experience terms at least, and he did this despite adversity.
Beforehand he was a bit colty, not quite the shower scene in Sex/Life but not far off, and then during the race Tom Marquand had to weave through traffic towards the stands’ rail and it didn’t look great for him at halfway.
But this race was won when he hit the rising ground. A late turn of foot sealed it – the hallmark of many a great sprinter in this race over the years – and one and a quarter lengths at the line probably masks his superiority. Starman is the real deal.
Walker's judgement spot on
With 4000 people on the July Course a hint of normality returned to July Cup day, but burning hot summers of yesteryear were not on the minds of the lucky crowd on an overcast afternoon. The constant threat of drizzle was always hanging in the air.
Thankfully for trainer Ed Walker there was no more than that – he pulled Starman out of Royal Ascot when the ground turned too soft in the Diamond Jubilee – but the thunderstorms that hit the surrounding area on Friday evening missed the course and the sprint track rode Good to Firm.
“We proved we made the right call there (to miss Royal Ascot),” a buoyant Walker said afterwards. “I was asked what my hopes were for him and I said I hope he wins a Group One. Hayley Moore asked ‘what are your hopes for him as a horse and where do you see him being?’ and I dreamed that he would be the sprinter of our generation, but of course you do when they are going through the grades as quickly as he was and you have to think ‘where is the ceiling?’
“Oisin (Murphy) got off him at York and said I’ve no idea how good this horse is.
“Today he was beaten. He overcame a pretty tough trip. He wasn’t concentrating today. At York he was so professional. Today I was very negative. If you had caught me before the race I would have been very doom and gloom.
“He always looked good but you dare dream they are all champions until they prove themselves they are not. He has just never let us down.
“For the first time ever in watching him it wasn’t happening. I was feeling sorry for myself at the three (furlong) pole thinking ‘more bad luck in big races’.
“Tom was great on him. He was cool and as soon as he hit the flat and got to the bottom of the hill at the one and a half pole he just found and found. I watched down at the one pole and as they came past me I thought he has still got quite a bit of ground to make up here but he did it. I’ve not seen a replay yet so I don’t know how well he did it.”
The question now is what next? It looks a case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and the temptation to drop in trip to five furlongs in the Nunthorpe could be worth resisting judging by this performance, as he simply looks an out-and-out six furlong monster.
The Haydock Sprint Cup and Champions Sprint looks the route for him, ground permitting, while overseas options like the Prix Maurice de Gheest could also be on the table.
For owner-breeder David Ward, a big David Bowie fan if you hadn’t guessed, this was a case of striking it lucky early in what has become a burgeoning 78-horse project for him.
“He’s probably a horse of a lifetime,” he said. “He was just the second horse I’ve bred. We always believed he was a seriously talented horse and he is.”
Aidan the key player missing from the party
In what we’ve already established was a high-class renewal, it’s hard to think of who was missing. Dream Of Dreams, the Diamond Jubilee winner, would’ve added something had he not had a setback, while Campanelle would’ve gone close had she not gone back to America judging by the effort of Dragon Symbol.
At this point we should spare a thought for Oisin Murphy who jumped off the winner to ride Archie Watson’s horse, his emotional attachment to the runner-up having bought and sold him costing him another Group One winner on Saturday.
That will not escape his thoughts until the next Group One comes along. Starman is very good and he knew it – and judging by the beer being poured in Stravinky’s, Mozart’s and the Chief Singer Bar on Saturday, he might have a constant reminder if the Starman saloon opens its doors in the future.
Talking of Stravinsky and Mozart, there was one other key July Cup player missing – Aidan O’Brien.
This was the first time since 2009 there was no July Cup runner for the master of Ballydoyle – and the first time since 2014 he hadn’t had a runner in the Superlative Stakes, either.
He will be back. But today was Ed Walker’s day, a first Group One success for the Upper Lambourn handler. Just considering the future of Starman alone, it could be the first of many.