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| 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.