'Power' Pair Square Off in July Cup

Trainer Eddie Lynam is double-handed for the July 12 Darley July Cup (Eng-I) at Newmarket with elite sprinting duo Slade Power and Sole Power, while the U.S. will have a rooting interest in trainer Wesley Ward's Undrafted.

 

Slade Power and Sole Power each won at Royal Ascot in June. Sole Power captured King's Stand Stakes (Eng-I) for the second year in a row and Slade Power scored in the Diamond Jubilee (Eng-I) at six furlongs. They met in last year's July Cup, with Slade Power third and Sole Power fifth.

 

With the ground likely to be soft on race day, however, Lynam told Racing Post that Sole Power may not start.

 

Run at a straight six furlongs with some undulations and an uphill climb in the final furlong, the July Cup also drew Diamond Jubilee runner-up Due Diligence and third-place finisher Aljamaaheer.  

 

Trainer Aidan O'Brien's lightly raced Due Diligence gets a chance to avenge his second to Slade Power after losing by 1 1/2 lengths in the Diamond Jubilee. Ryan Moore had to take up sharply on Due Diligence when Slade Power came over on him nearing the finish line. Moore alleged interference, but stewards let the result stand. A stakes winner at Naas in early June, Due Diligence has a 3-1-1 record from six career starts.

 

O'Brien also is represented by Cougar Mountain, a debut winner at Naas June 25, and Fountain of Youth, winner of the Sapphire Stakes (Ire-III) June 28 at the Curragh.

 

Aljamaaheer, who stayed on strongly in the Diamond Jubilee to take third, tries for his first win in a year since the Summer Mile (Eng-II) at Ascot for trainer Roger Varian.

 

Ward, noted for his success at Royal Ascot with his 2-year-olds, sends out 4-year-old Undrafted, campaigned by NFL star Wes Welker. Undrafted, who will make his European debut, won the Jaipur Invitational Stakes (gr. IIIT) June 7 at Belmont Park after a runner-up finish in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes (gr. IIIT) May 2 at Churchill Downs. He has a 4-1-5 record from 14 lifetime starts.

 

Other contenders include King's Stand third-place finisher Hot Streak, 2013 Middle Park Stakes (Eng-I) winner Astaire, and group winners Gregorian and Jack Dexter. Others include Spanish sprinter Noozhoh Canarias, sixth in the May 3 QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-I) in his most recent outing, and Justice Day, a last-out winner going six furlongs at Haydock who is in search of a first stakes victory.