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Sunday's racing is more low-key than we have been used to this week, but Chantilly stage a significant juvenile staging post in the G2 Prix Robert Papin in which Rockcliffe Stud's Listed Empress Stakes winner Celandine (GB) (Kingman {GB}) takes the next step in her career. With Arabian Dusk (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) boosting that Newmarket form, the Ed Walker-trained homebred takes pole position for this six-furlong contest which also hosts Mohamed Saeed Al Shahi's course-and-distance G3 Prix du Bois scorer Arabie (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}). Strangely exclusively contested by...

After Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Inisherin (GB) (Shamardal) had crossed the line in Royal Ascot's G1 Commonwealth Cup, all logic pointed to Newmarket and Saturday's G1 My Pension Expert July Cup. Imperious there, as he had been in Haydock's G2 Sandy Lane Stakes the previous month, Kevin Ryan's latest sprinting luminary is unbeaten over this six-furlong trip and open to abundant improvement from a family which breeds class acts at a ridiculous rate. Whatever his obvious merits, the fact is that with the ground drying out by the hour...

Newmarket's July Festival witnessed some smart performances from big names on the opening day and Friday's action looks set to follow that pattern with Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) the leading lady in the feature G1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes. Surprisingly, she has proven adept at this mile despite showing abundant pace as a juvenile when winning the G3 Albany Stakes and G1 Cheveley Park Stakes. Runner-up in the 1,000 Guineas, the filly who races for Steven Weston, Barry Fowler, Medallion Racing and Reeves Racing went to Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation Stakes...

Having suffered one of Royal Ascot's most unexpected reversals, Ballydoyle's Whistlejacket (Ire) (No Nay Never) heads to Newmarket's July Festival on Thursday with a point to prove in the G2 Kingdom of Bahrain July Stakes. Caught out by the speed test of the G2 Norfolk Stakes, the Listed First Flier Stakes winner could manage only fourth as the heavily-supported 10-11 favourite and duly reverts to a more suitable six-furlong trip to put his substantial reputation back on track. His brother Little Big Bear (Ire) came here two years ago only...

Racing with the weight of family honour on his shoulders, Juddmonte's unique commodity Kikkuli (GB) (Kingman {GB}) lines up as one of the most tantalising members of Sunday's cast for Deauville's G1 Haras d'Etreham Prix Jean Prat. Cruelly denied by pixels in Royal Ascot's G3 Jersey Stakes over this seven-furlong trip last month, the half-brother to Frankel (GB) and Noble Mission (GB) was finishing best of all in that competitive affair which rates at least the equal in terms of form to this race. While she was only fourth in...

With Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) sadly no longer with us and Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) retired, Europe's sprint category is in something of a lull at present. Elite-level performers are thin on the ground for Saturday's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, with the best of them being Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) who will be racing on ground that is quicker than ideal. When it comes to the baker's dozen tackling Marc Chan's standard-setter, it will probably be a case of who peaks...

In it seems no time at all, Coolmore's big horse City Of Troy (Justify) has gone from "our Frankel" to a colt carrying a huge symbolic question mark over a head that appeared poised to carry racing's crown. There have been few greater anti-climaxes in the history of Ballydoyle than that which accompanied his abject 2,000 Guineas performance and, following the roller-coaster experience of last year's Derby, we are unexpectedly back in familiar territory. What occurred at Epsom last June was heralded as a feat of training without equal as...

This year's G1 1,000 Guineas took place without Ballydoyle's Opera Singer (Justify), so there is a sense of unfinished business when it comes to the pecking order of the 3-year-old fillies at present. Sunday's Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas at The Curragh should answer some questions, none more so than that concerning how straight she is for a tough reintroduction having suffered that setback. So good in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, some will tell you that she may not have to be at 100% to win this but when it...

Record-setting G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Justin Milano (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) faces 15 colts and one filly in Sunday's ¥611,240,000 G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at Tokyo over 2400 metres on Sunday. Flawless in three starts, the Masahiro Miki runner won his career bow over 2000 metres on this course in November, and added the G3 Kyodo News Hai with Jantar Mantar (Jpn) (Palace Malice) second in February. He knocked 0.70 seconds off of the Japanese 2000 Guineas record, covering that trip in a sparkling 1:57.10, with Group...

Katsumi Yoshida's Stellenbosch (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) is aiming to add a second Classic to her resume in Sunday's G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). Facing off against 17 other fillies, the daughter of the three-time winner Bloukrans (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) will leave from gate seven under Keita Tosaki. She defeated her G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies conqueress Ascoli Piceno (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) and Listed Elfin S. heroine Light Back (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) in the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) over 1600 metres back in April. If she prevails on Sunday,...

Aidan O'Brien's Gold Cup picture will be a lot clearer by Friday night, with the 2022 hero of that Royal meeting's feature Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the G3 Red Sea Turf H. and G2 Dubai Gold Cup winner Tower Of London (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in action across the Irish Sea. The latter, who is beginning to fulfil his TDN Rising Star tag over staying trips, takes aim at the York Dante festival's G2 Boodles Yorkshire Cup before Ryan Moore flies to Leopardstown to steer Kyprios to an almost inevitable...

Arguably the most impressive Oaks trial winner so far this month when dominating the Listed Pretty Polly S., George Strawbridge's Friendly Soul (GB) (Kingman {GB}) makes a 10-day turnaround in Wednesday's G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. at York. Upsetting the already-proven Kalpana (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) at Newmarket, where the third was 12 lengths further behind, the John and Thady Gosden-trained filly is slightly ahead of the curve as far as pedigree is concerned, so far showing more precocity than her three Group 1-winning half-siblings. Despite being by Kingman, she...