Morris to Ride Mongolian Saturday in July Cup

Luke Morris, who leads Britain in wins in 2016, has been booked to ride U.S.-trained Mongolian Saturday in the Darley July Cup (Eng-I) Saturday, July 9 at Newmarket.

Winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) at Keeneland, Mongolian Saturday is trained in America by Mongolian native Enebish Ganbat. A £500,000 ($675,000) event run over six furlongs, the July Cup is the fourth of seven legs in the Sprint category of the QIPCO British Champions Series and is also the seventh of the ten races that make up the Global Sprint Challenge.

Ridden by his groom, Santiago Aragon, the 6-year-old Any Given Saturday gelding exercised on the Adnams July Course June 29 at Newmarket. He moved steadily over much of the final seven furlongs and was only asked to quicken the last quarter mile. Ganbat said he has adjusted how he prepares Mongolian Saturday in Europe.

"I am more experienced now and have learned that you can't work your horses so fast here, especially uphill and on soft ground which takes a lot of energy," Ganbat said. "It's very different to America."

Ganbaatar Dagvadorj's Mongolian Saturday finished ninth in the King's Stand (Eng-I) June 16 at the Royal Ascot meeting.

"Before Royal Ascot he went four furlongs in 43-and-a-half seconds and that was too much, it finished him," Ganbat said. "We also discovered after Ascot that he was suffering from a big ulcer but, thanks to the help of Tristan Sander [of Baker & McVeigh Veterinary Practice], we have been treating him ever since.

"I am not sure about winning the Darley July Cup but I am sure that he will run better than at Ascot."

Ganbat said Dagvadorj will not be able to make it to Newmarket to see the race.

"We have booked Luke Morris to ride him but unfortunately his owner will not be here to see him as the race clashes with the biggest meeting in Mongolia, staged near Ulan Bator, where some of the races are run over a 15-mile course and can have more than 700 runners," Ganbat said.