Sovereigns strikes gold for O’Brien in July Cup triumph
TEN SOVEREIGNS landed a big gamble as he decisively claimed the £500,000 Darley July Cup in a fashion that suggested he could still be the season’s champion sprinter.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt, backed in to 9-2 from an early morning 10-1, made all in the six-furlong race under Ryan Moore to beat 3-1 favourite Advertise two and three-quarter lengths with his stablemate Fairyland a further half a length back in third.
With Godolphin’s Blue Point, winner of the King’s Stand and Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, now retired the stage is set for Ten Sovereigns to potentially dominate the major sixfurlong races for the rest of the season.
O’Brien said that such was the speed Ten Sovereigns has shown on his Ballydoyle gallops he could also be tempted to test him in the five-furlong Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August.
Ten Sovereigns had won the Group One Middle Park at Newmarket last season before finishing fifth to stablemate Magna Grecia in the 2,000 Guineas over a mile on his seasonal debut.
He had then finished fourth to Advertise in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot but O’Brien had confidently predicted a much slicker performance yesterday.
The trainer, who was landing his fifth July Cup 20 years after Stravinsky gave him his first success, said: ‘We slowed him down all winter to try to help him get a mile. He ran in the Guineas and nearly got a mile.
‘He took a little bit of time to come out of Newmarket. He was just ready to go to Ascot but he probably hadn’t woken up to go sprinting and he looked like a horse which had not mentally clicked in yet.
‘We knew after his last two works he was right there. He is like all those good athletes, he goes a very high pace very easily.
‘He is cruising along in first gear then when you ask him he quickens.
‘His work has been unbelievable. On his last piece he broke 11 seconds every furlong for four furlongs, that is very quick.
‘When we saw that we knew that there was something different going on.’