The Newmarket July Festival is, of course, a three-day meeting staged at the home of British Flat racing, Newmarket, in early July, when the aptly-titled July Course, or Summer Course, is in operation. On the opening Thursday, billed as ‘Ladies’ Day’, the feature race is the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes, run over a mile and a half, open to horses aged three years and upwards and worth £125,000 in prize money. In 2016, subsequent Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange became the latest of five mares to win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes twice.
The second day, billed as ‘Festival Friday’ has as its highlight the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes, run over a mile and open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards. Akin to the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood later in the month, the race provides the first opportunity of the season for three-year-old fillies to take on older rivals at the highest level. Notable winners since the turn of the twenty-first century include Soviet Somg (2004, 2005), Goldikova (2009) and Alpha Centauri (2018). Earlier on the card, the two-year-old fillies have a chance to shine in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, formerly the Cherry Hinton Stakes, over six furlongs.
The July Festival culminates on Saturday, ‘July Cup Day’, when the feature race is the Group 1 July Cup, run over six furlongs, open to horses aged three years and upwards and currently worth £657,000 in prize money. Widely regarded as a yardstick for European sprinting talent, the roll of honour for the July Cup includes the likes of Sharpo, Habibti, Cadeaux Genereux, Lake Coniston and Oasis Dream, to name but a handful of illustrious winners since the race was promoted to Group 1 status in 1978. The July Cup is preceded by a popular betting heat, the Bunbury Cup, a ‘Heritage Handicap’ run over seven furlongs.