Limato gets first Group 1 win in July Cup

Limato won the first Group 1 race of his career in his fourth attempt, and beat the winners of three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot last month, in Saturday’s $645,450 July Cup at Newmarket Racecourse.

Limato was ridden by Harry Bentley and won the July Cup by two lengths despite veering to the right in the final strides of the six-furlong race. The July Cup was run on a straightaway course.

Suedois, a 25-1 outsider, ran second, his best result in a Group 1 race. Quiet Reflection, a 3-year-old filly who beat 3-year-old males in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, finished third in her first start against older males.

Mongolian Saturday, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last October, finished 11th in the field of 18. Mongolian Saturday led briefly with a quarter-mile remaining but faded to finish six lengths behind Limato.

Profitable, the winner of the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 14, finished fourth, while Twilight Son, who won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 18, was 14th.

Limato, who is by Tagula, did not start at Royal Ascot. The 4-year-old gelding was fourth in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on May 14 in his first start of the year. Trained by Henry Candy for Paul Jacobs, Limato has won 7 of 11 starts. The Lockinge Stakes was the first time Limato finished worse than second.

Limato won his first five races and was second to Muhaarar in the 2015 Commonwealth Cup. Last fall, Limato was second in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.