2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Tips – DS
2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Preview
After taking last weekend off, I was champing at the bit when I sat down to look at the 2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday card. It is fair to say my enthusiasm was soon tempered. Of the six live races on ITV, only two have eight runners or more and one of those is at Doncaster. There is one decent sized field handicap to get stuck into at HQ but otherwise, it’s an underwhelming start. I won’t be complaining if we find a winner though!
1.50 – Bahrain Trophy Stakes (Group 3)
The first of a few small fields today. None of the runners are bigger than around 8/1 and the outsider, the Joseph O’Brien trained (and Ryan Moore ridden) Nil Bua Gan Dua, which basically is the Gaelic translation of ‘no pain no gain’, is not easy to fancy stepping up in trip. His pedigree suggests it will stretch him and he didn’t exactly finish strongly at Ascot last time.
I loved Study Of Man as a racehorse and his son Alderman is interesting upped in trip after staying on well on soft ground in The Derby. He had previously run well on good ground at Newbury, albeit in a much lower grade, and he might put it up to the two market leaders but I’d say odds of 11/2 are probably about right. No bet.
2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Tip: No Bet
2.25 – July Stakes (Group 2)
There is usually a small enough field for this 2yo Group 2 sprint but four runners!? There were six for the past two years and when Jasour won in 2023 there were nine, but for some reason there has been a particularly dire turnout.
It is a win only race, so usually I’d be giving this a wide berth but on a quiet enough betting day I’m going to take a punt on the rag of the field here, Persian Spring. Richard Hannon’s son of Persian Force (who won this race himself) takes on the Godolphin colt and odds on jolly Inner City Blues, an impressive winner on debut in a York novice that throws up an occasionally classy winner.
Solid Standard
Also in opposition are Adaay Of Scarlet, who is next best in the betting. He’s had four runs and he sets a solid standard, having finished second in the Listed National Stakes at Sandown and also finishing second in the Coventry.
Philip Makin runs Hickory Lad, who bolted up in the Woodcote at Epsom, his second win from four starts. He looks well worth a go at this level but I am going to take on all three of those horses.
Persian Spring has had three runs. Beaten on debut over 5f, he then came out and won a decent novice at York upped to 6f, with Jamie Spencer on board for the first time. I liked how he travelled into the race, how he went through the gap when asked to go and win and also how he held off his rivals in the final furlong to score by a length.
Nothing Went To Plan
On his next start, back down at 5f in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot, not much went to plan. He was dropped out, got hampered and once that happened, it was game over. I am going to put a line through that and hopefully, in this smaller field and back at 6f, Spencer can avoid any similar traffic issues.
I definitely think Persian Spring is better than that last run, whether he’s good enough to win this is another matter. At odds of 18/1, it is worth taking the chance that he might be.
2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Tip: Persian Spring @ 18/1
2.45 Doncaster – St Leger Trial Novice Stakes (Class 2)
This is an interesting novice. It serves as a ‘win and you’re in’ race for the St Leger back here later in the season and Joseph O’Brien has sent the Curragh maiden winner Count Bezukhov across the Irish Sea to try and secure his spot in the final classic of the campaign.
By Wootton Bassett, he finished off very nicely for third on debut at Leopardstown over 1m4f but the drop back to 1m2f at the Curragh posed no problems second time up. A couple of winners have come out of that latter race so he is one to take very seriously, even if he does have to carry more weight than his rivals.
Big Price Tag
Poker made a lot of headlines when Amo splashed out 4.3m for him as a yearling. Has he hit the heights expected of him? No, but it is unfair to judge him on his Derby run as he likely hated that tacky, soft ground.
On his only try over 1m4f on fast ground, he ran a pretty solid race to chase home Ravenspire at Haydock on his seasonal reappearance. He was only beaten 1.75l in the G2 Queen’s Vase at Ascot next time and Poker was only 2l behind him at Haydock (although it must be said that he was in receipt of 6lbs).
Even so, that’s a decent standard of form and if he were coming into this race on the back of that effort, he wouldn’t be double figure odds here. Is he ever going to justify his hefty price tag? Probably not, but he’s also not the complete donkey that some are making him out to be after that Derby run. So, at 11/1, Poker is worth backing e/w.
2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Tip: Poker e/w @ 11/1 nap
3.00 – Betway Handicap (Heritage)
Since Brando retired, I haven’t had much luck backing Kevin Ryan’s horses. However, I am going to persevere with him here. He won this in 2024, he had the runner up last season and in 2023 he had the fourth. It seems to be a race that he targets and this year he is represented by the seemingly exposed Mo Of Cairo.
A Beverley maiden winner last year (5f, gd-fm), he was then beaten a head in a 52k nursery handicap at York off 81 (River Spey 0.75l back in fourth), his final run of 2025.
He’s had three runs this year, the best of which came at Windsor last time when he renewed rivalries with River Spey, who turned the tables on him. However, Mo Of Cairo missed the break and De Sousa used plenty of petrol to make up a heap of ground in the first furlong to come through and lead, so to get to within 2.25l of the winner was a pretty decent effort given those early exertions.
There is a chance he may well be targeting a race back at York but hopefully, Ryan is going to let him try his best here. With Alex Jary’s 3lb claim, he’s 3lb lower than when second on the Knavesmire in the most valuable race he’s ever run in last August and he’s 5lb better off with River Spey for that Windsor defeat last time.
At odds of 50/1, it is worth chancing Mo Of Cairo e/w for small stakes. Hopefully he finishes stronger than Egypt did against Argentina in the World Cup on Tuesday.
2026 Newmarket July Meeting Thursday Tip: Mo Of Cairo e/w @ 50/1 (4 places)
3.35 – Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (Group 2)
The final race of the day is this G2 and only six run. The globetrotting Rebel’s Romance is a shade of odds against to make a winning return on home soil but he’s up against some pretty stiff and, more importantly, racefit opponents.
Convergent ran desperately at Epsom last time but he’s better than that and Almeric ran with real credit behind Ombudsman at Sandown last time out. None of those three are big enough for the blog though, so we’ll give this race a miss. No bet.
