Mayson Springs Shock in July Cup

Mayson sprang a 20/1 surprise in Saturday's July Cup

Newmarket’s July Festival has been plagued by ground you’d be more likely to find up at Newcastle for the Eider in the depths of winter.

Hence why there’ve been some results that form students will immediately tear up and throw in the bin, without taking anything away from a gutsy winner, the feature race of the meeting the July Cup is one such race.

First and second in one of the most prestigious sprint races in the world were Mayson for Richard Fahey and Paul Hanagan at 20/1 and the admirable but far from classy The Cheka for Eve Johnson Houghton.

Two weeks ago, on similar ground I hasten to add, Mayson was almost 14l behind the winner in a Group 3 over the same distance yet somehow he managed to rout, an admittedly below par, Group 1 field yesterday.

The horse virtually made all and at the half way point there only looked one winner as Mayson powered through the mud. Whether the other jockeys, like I had, underestimated this horse and thought they could peg him back remains to be seen but there was no stopping him and he all but silenced the crowd as he sprung a 20/1 surprise.

In my preview of the race last week I wrote of Mayson:

“Richard Fahey four-year-old who became a bit of a talking horse when landing back to back races earlier in the season, including Gp3 Palace House Stakes over 5f. Well-beaten in two Group races since though and soft ground again a concern; would take a career-best performance to make an impact here.”

This certainly was a career-best performance from a horse that two years ago I was watching get beat at Ripon in the Champion Two Year Old Trophy.

Trainer Richard Fahey, who no one would deny deserves a big race win such as this, has highlighted the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp in October on Arc day as Mayson's main target now for the rest of the season; however he also singled out several other contests as potential options for his star horse: the Nunthorpe at York, the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville and the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Whichever race he does take in next you’d have to think that unless the ground came up like The Somme again that the layers will be out to get this horse and he’ll still, rightly or wrongly, have something to prove.

Mayson is clearly a good horse, we knew that after his wins earlier in the season, but whether he’s truly up to Group 1 standard remains to be seen in spite of what on face value looks a demolition of a good field yesterday.