Alcohol Free, Snow Lantern Clash Again in Falmouth

It is not only the England football team who are bidding to bridge a long gap between top-level triumphs at a venue.

Leading owner and breeder Jeff Smith may have won countless big prizes in the past four decades, but he has not landed one of the group 1 prizes at the Newmarket July Festival since the brilliant Chief Singer  saw off all the best sprinters around in the Norcros July Cup (G1) in 1984.

He is full of hope of landing another one 37 years on as Alcohol Free  attempts to land the third group 1 triumph of her career in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (G1).

Last year's Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) winner put her QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) defeat behind her when landing the Coronation Stakes (G1) on heavy ground at Royal Ascot last month.

Smith said: "She was most impressive at Ascot and there was no doubt about the result. It will be different ground here but she'll go on anything. 

"She's done extremely well since then; I saw her a couple of days ago and she looked great. But the opposition is stiff, as always. It's the first time the generations have mixed so who knows how they will compare—we've got to find out."

Oisin Murphy's mount tops the ante-post betting and Smith believes the bookmakers have it right.

He said: "I think she's got a favorite's chance but, as we all know, that doesn't necessarily mean a great deal. But I'm pretty hopeful that if she runs her race she's going to be there or thereabouts."

Snow Lantern Bids to Turn the Tables 

Sean Levey and Richard Hannon are a team to be reckoned with in group 1 company and the market has taken note this time.

The jockey has won three top-level races for his trainer in the past three years and each time the winner was returned at double-figure odds, with Billesdon Brook  a shocking 66-1 winner of the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) back in 2018.

However, Snow Lantern  is near-certain to be single-figure odds as she bids to avenge her dam Sky Lantern 's controversial Falmouth Stakes defeat in 2013.

She only has a length and a half to make up on her Coronation Stakes conqueror Alcohol Free and she pleased Levey in a pre-race spin on Thursday.

"She felt very good and I'm looking forward to it," the jockey said. "She proved at Ascot she's worth siding with and the ground was against her there; all her best work is on better ground so that was a step into the unknown, and she still ran a good race.

"It's quite an open race, I don't think the older horses bring much threat, and I definitely think Alcohol Free is still the one to beat."

Snow Lantern has to avenge her defeat behind Primo Bacio  in listed company at York, where she spoiled her chance by racing too freely.

Levey added: "My horse did everything the wrong way round at York. There's no doubt the winner is a very good filly but whether Newmarket will suit her is questionable. 

"Snow Lantern is a strong traveler and it tends to suit horses that can travel down into that dip. She must have every chance."

Mother Back for More on the July Course

Has Aidan O'Brien met his Waterloo? He will be hoping that he has in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes today.

No filly has won the One Thousand Guineas on the Rowley Mile then returned to the other track at Newmarket two months later to land this contest since Waterloo lifted both races for Bill Watts in 1972.

O'Brien took the fillies' classic for the seventh time when Mother Earth  triumphed under Frankie Dettori on the Rowley Mile in May.

Now, he bids for a third Falmouth with a 3-year-old who was second in the Emirates Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (G1) at Longchamp before finishing third behind Alcohol Free and Snow Lantern in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The trainer said: "We were delighted with her last start in the Coronation Stakes—we have been for all her runs this season. Everything has gone smoothly with her since Ascot."