July Cup: Billy Loughnane steers Comanche Brave to glory | Racing News

Billy Loughnane’s exceptional season continued at Newmarket on Saturday as he steered Irish raider Comanche Brave to a brilliant sprinting success in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup Stakes.

It was the 2000 Guineas-winning jockey who jumped at the chance to partner Donnacha O’Brien’s four-year-old – who had taken on the challenge of Ka Ying Rising in Hong Kong earlier in the year and had dazzled on home soil at the Curragh before not being disgraced at Royal Ascot.

Japanese raider Satono Reve attempted to keep it simple on the front end carrying dreams of replicating Agnes World’s victory in this race 26 years ago, with Aidan O’Brien’s Mission Central also among those up on the pace early on.

But the eye was always drawn to 11-1 chance Comanche Brave as he breezed effortlessly into contention and slipped an extra gear when meeting the rising ground to see off the running-on Venetian Sun by a length. Satono Reve was a further neck back in third.

O’Brien said: “He was very impressive today I thought – he looked like he did the day he won at the Curragh.

“There’s not much between these sprinters and he’d won a Group Two, so where else to go but keep trying to win Group Ones? We’ve seen a few times horses that have been beaten in the Jubilee at Royal Ascot and have come and won this race, so we weren’t afraid to try it and it worked.

“There wasn’t a lot of pace on paper, which is a funny thing to say in a six-furlong race. I said to Billy to just let him jump and if someone is going along in front great and if not go along yourself. He got a lovely slot in behind Satono Reve and he took him as long as he wanted to go.

“I thought he was super impressive today, he travelled beautifully and Billy gave him a lovely ride. He never looked anything but the winner really. He never looked in trouble, it was an easy watch.”

It is likely to be Group Ones all the way for Comanche Brave for the remainder of the season, with plenty of options open to him.

“He ran very well in Hong Kong earlier in the year behind Ka Ying Rising and that was his first go back at six furlongs on a right-handed track, he’d only been right-handed once before and he’d travelled halfway across the world and wasn’t disgraced by any means,” O’Brien added.

“It would be great to see a horse like Ka Ying Rising travel and come and take us on here. It’s not easy to do, but we travelled there and everyone should travel their horses as well.

“I don’t know where we’ll go next. He’s in all the sprints and I think it’s likely we’ll want to go travelling as well at some stage.

“He’s in the Haydock Sprint Cup, there’s lots of options. Billy said you could even come back to five furlongs with him.”

Loughnane said: “Tony Hind my agent does a fantastic job, he said we might have Comanche Brave for the July Cup and I said ‘you’re joking’, but thankfully it was confirmed and the rest is history.

“It was a fantastic spare ride to pick up and he’s a horse who is really just learning how to sprint as he’s obviously been tried over further.

“The race today couldn’t have gone any better. I got on the back of the Japanese horse who was a perfect target and my one instruction was just to nurse him as long as I could. I managed to wait until the furlong pole and he picked up well from there.

“He travelled so sweetly, fast ground was perfect and I do think he could drop back in trip – I was taking back the whole way through and he’s got a lot of gears this horse. Hopefully the sky’s the limit.

“I get a lot of kick out of riding in these big races. I’m 20 years old and I’m fortunate enough to pick up rides in them and just learning from that is everything.

“To be fortunate enough to win some Group Ones is what I wanted. I didn’t know Bow Echo was going to flourish into what he has, but to ride three Group One winners in England this year is brilliant and we’re only halfway through the season – hopefully we’re just getting going!”

Al Hudaiba denies Abraham Lincoln with Superlative performance

Al Hudaiba edged Abraham Lincoln in a thrilling finish to the battle of racing’s superpowers in Newmarket’s Boodles Superlative Stakes.

Aidan O’Brien’s Abraham Lincoln was the 8-13 favourite to follow up his impressive Curragh victory on debut and add his name to a roll of honour that includes distinguished Ballydoyle luminary City Of Troy.

It appeared the son of Wootton Bassett was about to create another taking impression when Ryan Moore kicked for home with a furlong to run.

However, William Buick was conjuring an exceptional finishing display from Charlie Appleby’s dual winner, whose race experience saw him answer every call from his jockey and hunt down Abraham Lincoln in the final stride to shade a short-head verdict at 5-2.

Al Hudaiba would be unbeaten in four starts had he not thrown away certain victory when unshipping Tom Marquand at Yarmouth, and Appleby said: “He’s a horse with a lot of talent and in the first half of the race we were happy with where we were, but Will said he started to shift underneath him and it’s a job to stay on, let alone trying to get him to gallop out – he said staying on is the hardest part.

“I wasn’t confident when they get as close as that, especially with the luck I’ve had over recent weeks, but I was sort of confident when he got his head down and started to gallop because he has got a lot of ability this horse, we’ve seen that at home.

“Full credit to the lads at home just for staying on him. Billy (Loughnane) has ridden him a few times for us and he puts some shapes in!

“I hope he’ll grow out of it, whether we need to put something around his head (headgear) to make him concentrate a bit harder, I don’t know. He’s one of those horses that finds life very easy because he has that engine there, but if he’s going to go up into the bigger leagues he’s going to have to concentrate a bit harder.”

Appleby, who was winning the Superlative for the third year in a row and seventh time in total, added: “I think we’ll look at the National Stakes in Ireland. I think the ground will potentially suit him there as one thing Will did say today was that he was feeling the ground.

“We’ll see over the coming weeks as the two-year-olds come out what other people have got and more importantly what else we might try to unearth at home.”

Of the runner-up, O’Brien said: “He ran a lovely race, he was just very green when he got there (the front) wasn’t he?

“He did it the first day as well – he got there and pulled up. We’ll just have to get there later!”

Aalto proves his Bunbury expertise once again

Aalto obliged favourite-backers to both avenge last year’s narrow defeat and regain the Betway Bunbury Cup at Newmarket.

Ian Williams’ six-year-old has a real affinity with the July course and in particular this contest, having won the seven-furlong event in great style in 2024 and finding only William Haggas’ top-class operator More Thunder a nose too good 12 months ago.

Ridden by William Buick, the 4-1 market leader had a wall of horses ahead of him entering the final quarter-mile but once finding daylight the HQ regular stormed home to score by half a length from chief market rival Back In Black.

Aalto was leading home a one-four for both Williams and the owners, with stablemate Supido fourth.

Of the winner, the trainer said: “He managed himself very well today. He had a lot of ground to make up two (furlongs) down, but William said when he got stuck into him he actually picked up and really flew.

“It’s a huge result. I didn’t think it was inevitable he was going to get there, I thought we had a lot of ground to make up. We were watching Supido as well, who I thought had run his race two out and then stayed on really well.

“I think this is probably just the time of year Aalto comes alive. He wouldn’t have the best lungs on him so we have to mind him and look after him and at this time of year it’s slightly easier to do as the pollen levels have dropped and we can use the paddocks as much as we like to.

“We primarily train handicappers – we don’t have much at Group level – so these big handicaps are really important to us and you have to have your eye on them from a long time out and you have to prepare the horses to get here.”