Inner City Blues hoping to strike right note in the Middle Park

It's two-year-old colts to the fore in Saturday's Group 1 Middle Park Stakes.

Regularly bringing together the best sprinting juveniles of the season, this contest has been won by the likes of Perfect Power, US Navy Flag, Dream Ahead, Dark Angel and Oasis Dream since the turn of the century and has gone the way of Aidan O'Brien a record seven times.

O'Brien is doubly-represented this year, yet, of the seven runners, doesn't have a contender in the first three of the betting.

Confucius and Marco Polo are the Ballydoyle representatives and it is the latter who is more fancied after re-discovering his best at Cork last time out. He had finished runner-up in a Curragh maiden on debut before running a disappointing eighth in the Gimcrack after being sent off as favourite. If the slower surface was an issue on the Knavesmire then he should be far more suited to what he will encounter at Newmarket.

Defeating Marco Polo on debut was Push The Boat Out and he took his form to the next level next time out when getting the better of Coventry winner Great Barrier Reef in late August. Michael O'Callaghan is still awaiting his first Group 1 win as a trainer and this son of Kodi Bear might just be his best chance to date.

Bringing what is arguably the most outstanding piece of form into the race is Orthodox. Although he does have a poor run in France to overcome last time out, the soft ground wouldn't have been to his liking and back on a quicker surface, he might just get back to his best. Clive Cox's star juvenile absolutely routed a decent Norfolk Stakes field at Royal Ascot in June and looked at that point like he might just be the best two-year-old colt around.

Short-price favourite Inner City Blues might just be the best around, however. Despite only beating a small field in the July Stakes, the Blue Point colt did show plenty of greenness, meaning that there is plenty of scope for progression. On top of that, Charlie Appleby's two-year-old's have been in electric form over recent weeks and Godolphin are bidding for a hat-trick in this race after Wise Approach and Shadow Of Light took all the beating in 2025 & 2024 respectively.

Middle Park Stakes confirmed runners

1. Confucius
2. Force Noir
3. Hell Of A Spin
4. Inner City Blues
5. Marco Polo
6. Orthodox
7. Push The Boat Out

Middle Park Stakes betting odds

(Odds will display when market is available)

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.