July Festival: How To Bet £20 at Newmarket on Thursday

Charlie Hills is a dab hand with sprinters and his Zabriskie Point looks worth a bet, at a general 16/1, in the Bet Boost At bet365 Handicap at Newmarket on Thursday. 

He’s the only one in this competitive 16-runner field who has not run this season but that looks factored into his price. In any case, he impressed when winning first time out last season and a mark of 93 may well underplay him, plus he looks well drawn in stall 11. I also like the fact that rising star Billy Loughnane, who has ridden three winners from just ten rides for the yard, has been summoned. 

Zabriskie Point was having only his third start when running in one of last year’s hottest nurseries at the Ebor Festival in late August. He got a bit lost in the first half of the race on the prevailing fast ground but finished off strongly to be a staying-on fourth, with several of those horses who finished around him, such as Starlust, Room Service and Key To Cotai, being rated at least a stone higher now. 

He was upped to 7f for his final two starts of the campaign, beating inferior rivals in a novice event at Thirsk, on soft ground, before racing with the choke out from the front and fading when an 8/1 chance for the Group Three Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket. 

Six furlongs on easy ground at Newmarket promises to play to his strengths and a gelding operation over the winter may have also benefited him. He’s 1lb lower than when running at York and his draw in 11 looks ideal as there looks more pace among the higher numbers. Moreover, the past seven winners of this have been drawn 11, 14, 16, 12, 20, 8 and 19. 

I doubt Zabriskie Point is another Magical Memory for Hills – he took this prize off a mark of 96 before going on to hold his own at the highest level – but he probably will not need to be. 

I’m also going to have a smaller each-way play on

Tropical Island

at 8/1 witt bet365 as she shaped much better than the bare form suggests when sixth on her return in a strong sprint at York last month. 

She tanked through that race out wide and was last off the bridle before folding in the closing stages. It looked a case of her first run in eight months being needed and she should be hard to keep out of the frame if sharper for the outing.

Small fields are a feature of the pattern races on the card with the likely softish ground and tactical battles complicating matters for punters. 

The betting for the Kingdom Of Bahrain July Stakes is dominated by Whistlejacket (fourth in the Norfolk), Electrolyte (second in the Coventry) and Aint Nobody (the Windsor Castle winner). Of that trio, Whistlejacket is the only one proven on a slower surface and he promises to be suited by moving back up in trip. 

However, I’m inclined to roll the dice and take them all on with Eve Johnson Houghton’s Billboard Star, who is the outsider of the field at a general 20/1 despite being a fluent winner over course and distance a fortnight ago. 

It’s difficult to gauge what he beat that day but he clocked some swift sectionals, dipping under 11 seconds in both the fourth and fifth furlongs despite an even gallop. The winning time was a second quicker than year older horses managed over the same trip later on the card, which tells you something. 

Billboard Star’s half-brother, Chipotle, who won at Royal Ascot in 2021, was not so effective on slower surfaces, which is a niggle, but I’m hoping this gelded youngster takes more after his sire, Advertise, who won this race in 2018 before going on to land the Commonwealth Cup on a softish surface the following year. 

Arrest is a horse I’ve never been able to get right but I’ve made a case for him upstaging Hamish, who is twice his age, in the Princess Of Wales's Stakes (Sponsored By The Kingdom Of Bahrain) . 

At the risk of repeating myself, he’s clearly in his element when getting some dig in the ground and the Gosden yard is in better form than it was when he ran earlier in the campaign. I’d have him and Hamish much closer together in the betting, so he must be the bet. 

The Gosden/Judmonte axis could be in for a lucrative afternoon because

Lead Artist

is fancied to take another step up the ladder by landing the Edmondson Hall Solicitors Sir Henry Cecil Stakes. 

Unraced at two, this regally bred Juddmonte colt is swiftly making up for lost time and looks bound for better things. 

He was unlucky when touched off in the Wood Ditton on his debut but turned the tables on his conqueror in some style when surging home at York last time. The RaceiQ sectionals reveal he was the fastest horse through each of the final three furlongs. 

Lead Artist will have softer ground to contend with, but his pedigree suggests it will not be an issue. Bold Style, who will be suited by reverting to a mile, can chase him home. 

2.25 Newmarket: £2 win and £1 each-way Billboard Star at a general 20/1 

3.00 Newmarket: £2 each-way on Zabriskie Point at a general 16/1 with firms going 5 places and £1 each-way at 14/1 with Sky Bet (they go 6 places) 

3.00 Newmarket: £1 each-way on Tropical Island at 8/1 with bet365 (5 places) 

3.35 Newmarket: £3 win on Arrest at 100/30 with Wiliam Hill and bet365 

4.45 Newmarket: £4 win on Lead Artist at a general 2/1 

4.45 Newmarket: £1 Exacta on Lead Artist to beat Bold Style