- Jockey Ryan Moore, 40, has five rides at Newmarket on Thursday afternoon
- Time Lock will be looking to return to form after disappointing Royal Ascot run
Ryan Moore is back in action at the Newmarket July Festival over the next few days, fresh from winning the Eclipse on board City Of Troy last weekend.
Group contests dominate Thursday’s racing with Moore aboard Portland, Whistlejacket and Time Lock in those respective races.
Here, Betfair ambassador Moore goes through his five rides on Thursday.
Ryan Moore is back in action at the Newmarket July Festival over the next few days
13:50 Newmarket
Portland
Ancient Wisdom looks the one to beat on his juvenile form, and then the other four in here look pretty evenly matched, with King Edward VII runner-up Space Legend the up-and-comer of those. A winner over 1m4f from Kinesiology previously, Portland definitely shaped like a greater test of stamina would suit in the Hampton Court over 1m2f last time, and he gets that here. It looks like being good to soft ground, maybe even a touch deeper, and he handles that well.
14:25 Newmarket
Whistlejacket
This race cut up a bit at the overnight stage, losing the Coventry first and third, but that formline is still represented by the runner-up Electrolyte and it still looks a strong race. I suppose you could say we were a little disappointed that Whistlejacket didn’t win the Norfolk, but maybe things didn’t fully work to his advantage there, and it certainly wasn’t a bad run at all. We like to think he is better than he showed there, he handles soft ground well if required, and the return to 6f hopefully won’t be an issue. It’s a good race, but he is a good colt.
15:00 Newmarket
Military
He obviously has his sights considerably lowered after running in the Commonwealth Cup last time and a reproduction of his earlier run in Group 3 company at Naas will hopefully see him competitive off a mark of 100 here. Maybe it’s a tough ask off top weight, but he handles dig.
15:35 Newmarket
Time Lock
I am not sure why she didn’t run her race in the Coronation Cup last time. Maybe it was the track, maybe it was the first-time cheekpieces that are left off here, or maybe she simply had an off-day against Group 1 horses. If she returns to the form of her Group 3 win for me last season, then she has a chance, but Hamish is probably the one to beat after the rain that landed earlier in the week.
17:20 Newmarket
Twirling
She clearly didn’t run up her best at Royal Ascot but she obviously has chances on her earlier Doncaster win.
