Dubai: The bragging rights for the title of best European sprinter was at stake at Newmarket Racecourse yesterday (Sat) and the exciting Muhaarar justifiably claimed the honour with a heart-stopping victory in the Group 1 £510,000 (Dh2.89 million) July Stakes.
The 25/1 outsider Tropics looked set to score a shock win under Pat Cosgrave when leading until the final 50 metres before former two-time British champion jockey Paul Hanagan conjured up a devastating final burst from Muhaarar (whose name means liberated in English) to snatch victory in the shadow of the post.
Richard Fahey’s 50-1 chance Eastern Impact was a length and a half away in third with the Ed Lynam-trained Sole Power, a neck behind in fourth.
With yesterday’s performance Muhaarar, owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, demonstrated that his victory in the inaugural running of the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month, was no flash in the pan. He looks a finished article and the horse that Europe’s leading sprinters will have to beat in future races.
“This is what’s it all about. The whole team works hard, I’m delighted,” Hanagan, who was winning a second July Cup following Mayson in 2012, told Racing UK. “He didn’t really handle the track and the dip and I could only really move on him when he hit the rising ground.
“I always just thought he was going to get there.”
Muhaarar’s trainer Charlie Hills added: “It was the track I was worried about more than anything. He didn’t come down the hill too good, but he’s a real fighter and he galloped right to the line.
“We’ll put him back on a nice level track now. He’s in the Maurice de Gheest and the Haydock Sprint and there’s Ascot at the end of the year.
“I think seven furlongs is no problem, either. He’s just a very good horse.”
Godolphin’s Aussie star Brazen Beau, could find no extra just inside the final furlong and weakened to finish seventh.
Trainer James Ivory was delighted with Tropics’ performance and said: “After Royal Ascot he was jarred up, so I wasn’t expecting too much, but when I saddled him up I knew he was in great form.
“I thought then he would take all the beating and he was just unlucky. We’ll keep going with him and hopefully get that Group One on the board.”
Earlier Godolphin’s Birchwood was an impressive winner of the Group 2 Superlative Stakes.
Ridden prominently by in-form jockey James Doyle, Richard Fahey’s star drifted under pressure in the final two furlongs but was still the best mover in the race which helped him secure a comfortable length victory over Irish-trained Air Vice Marshal.
Doyle said: “I let him go at the two and he just wandered a bit late on. He travelled into it really well and put the race to bed nicely, he just had a look late on. He has a lot of speed, six or seven (furlongs) is fine, but seven is probably as far as he wants to go at the minute.”
“I’m having a fruitful time of it lately, I’m getting on some quality horses and they’re all coming at once.”
Fahey added: “James said he was in front too soon, but he quickened up at the two and quickly put the race to bed. He just got a bit lonely out in front as it’s a big, open space.
“We’ll speak to John (Ferguson) and see where he goes, but he has entries in the Gimcrack and the National Stakes.
“His mind wasn’t on the job in Ireland, but today he was a gentleman and we’re back where we thought we were with him.”
