Charlie Appleby - confident or second half of the season
Charlie Appleby - confident or second half of the season

Newmarket July Festival preview: Big three days for Charlie Appleby


The first four Classics and Royal Ascot passed by without Charlie Appleby troubling the scorer, his class of 2023 struggling to make the impact at the top table their illustrious predecessors have managed in recent years.

But the message from Moulton Paddocks has been very clear – ‘crisis, what crisis?’ – and there are signs already that the mammoth two-year-old team in royal blue will paper over the cracks before the end of the autumn.

However, there’s still hope among the older horses, too, and next week’s July Festival at Newmarket is a chance for a few emerging stars and a sprinkling of more established names to restore the status quo.

It’s a home fixture for Appleby and David Ord looks at some of his interesting entries:

CASTLE WAY (Bahrain Trophy – 1.50 Thursday)

An Almanzor half-brother to Palace Pier, Castle Way was progressive at two, signing off his campaign with a taking win in a nursery at the Rowley Mile from a mark of 89.

It was clear even by that stage that Castle Way was taking more after dad than mum as he stretched out to ten furlongs, and he stayed there for a reappearance win in the Newmarket Stakes. He was in command from a long way out in the Listed heat as he beat Circle Of Fire, who could reoppose, by three-quarters-of-a-length.

We haven’t seen him since, but if he can dispatch a field that may contain the likes of Queen’s Vase second Saint George, King Edward VII runner-up Artistic Star, Chester Vase winner Arrest and Ulster Derby hero Tower Of London then Appleby would have a card to play in the final Classic of the season.

Castle Way wins under William Buick
Castle Way wins under William Buick

ADAYAR (Princess of Wales’s Stakes – 3.35 Thursday)

Five-year-old Derby winners aren’t kept in training to win a Princess Of Wales’s Stakes, but the race can act as a springboard to the big late-summer and autumn prizes. And Adayar needs a springboard.

He made a winning return over ten furlongs at the Guineas Meeting as connections targeted a Group One at the trip, the holy grail for the stallion brochure. But that dream died as he floundered in third behind Mostahdaf in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

To be fair the son of Frankel looked ill-at-ease on the quick ground there, his head carriage that of a horse who wanted to go forward but couldn’t quite let himself go. So the showers forecast for next week have tempted connections to head here.

It’s over a mile-and-a-half, his optimum trip, and the fact his trainer has four of the six entries tells you plenty about the task he’ll face. On Timeform ratings he has nine pounds in hand on Israr (John and Thady Gosden) and a stone when it comes to Grand Alliance (Charlie Fellowes).

At this stage it looks as though Global Storm, another with 14 pounds to find according to the numbers men, will be the stablemate donning the white cap and presumably ensuring an even gallop.

Adayar needs to be winning this – and winning it well.

Adayar strides clear under William Buick
Adayar strides clear under William Buick

IMPERIAL EMPEROR (Edmondson Hall Solicitors Henry Cecil Stakes – 4.45 Thursday)

A fascinating colt, Imperial Emperor made a big splash during Royal Ascot week but a 100 miles, literally, from the Berkshire spotlight.

Instead, he won the same novice event on this course that Baaeed took as part of his early education, hitting the same Timeform performance rating as that colt did, too.

He’s exciting, the QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot a mooted late-season target, but he’s lightly-raced and this is a significant next step up the ladder.

For in opposition is set to be Nostrum, a colt the Sir Michael Stoute team had Classic aspirations for during the spring and now making a belated reappearance. He was last seen losing his unbeaten record but enhancing his reputation when finishing third behind Chaldean in a Dewhurst that has worked out rather well.

There’s also Jersey Stakes second Zoology, Britannia runner-up New Endeavour, the unbeaten and exciting Embesto and Mostabshir, back in calmer waters after taking in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

It could be the most interesting race of the entire week.

Imperial Emperor returns in triumph at Newmarket
Imperial Emperor returns in triumph at Newmarket

STAR OF MYSTERY (Duchess of Cambridge Stakes – 2.25 Friday)

Appleby is 9 from 19 with his two-year-olds since the start of June, but few have made as big an impact as this daughter of Kodiac.

Second at Doncaster on debut, Star of Mystery has won twice since, first at Haydock and then over course this course and distance, and her four-length defeat of Cry Fiction in the Listed Empress Fillies’ Stakes last time was a significant performance.

She earned a Timeform master rating of 104p off the back of it, making her Appleby’s highest-rated juvenile as things stand. She is also the top-rated two-year-old filly in Britain and ranked the equal of the Irish-trained Albany winner Porta Fortuna, although they both have to play second fiddle to French speedball Ramatuelle (109) in the overall rankings.

Star Of Mystery will close the gap, though, if she puts Friday’s field to the sword in the same manner in which she toyed with her rivals earlier in the month.

Star Of Mystery after her Newmarket win
Star Of Mystery after her Newmarket win

EMPEROR’S STAR & STORMY WAVES (Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes)

Given that strike-rate with the two-year-olds, these two colts are significant entries in what is always a strong juvenile maiden on Friday’s card.

Storm Waves has had a run but was too green to do himself full justice at Doncaster, hanging left and getting unbalanced in the closing stages as he finished third behind Bigbertiebassett. That was a satisfactory start and it's hardly a leap of faith to think he’ll come on a bundle for it – after all, he is a 525,000 guineas son of Dubawi with the pedigree that sort of price tag suggests.

Emperor’s Star was cheaper, with a mere 300,000 euros required to snare him at Arqana. He’s by Sea The Stars out of a half-sister to Cloth Of Stars and from the family of Oaks winner Light Shift. He’s going to be a middle-distance three-year-old, clearly, but is another fascinating Appleby entry on a big three days for the team.


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