Newmarket's July Festival is one of the summer highlights from Flat racing's Headquarters, spearheaded by the Group 1 July Cup, and it takes place this year from Thursday 11th until Saturday 13th July 2024.
The July Festival is billed as the pinnacle of the summer season at Newmarket Racecourse and takes place on the July Course.
The three-day meeting includes prestigious races like the Princess of Wales's Stakes, the Falmouth Stakes and, of course, the July Cup itself.
The Newmarket July Festival is a three-day meeting and in 2024 it will be staged from Thursday 11th July until Saturday 13th July.
As the name suggests, the Newmarket July Festival is held at Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk, England. Widely considered the home of British Flat racing, Newmarket is known simply as Headquarters.
There are two individual courses at Newmarket – the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Racing on the July Course takes place only in high summer, usually beginning in late June, with the July Festival the highlight.
Every race from the Newmarket July Festival can be watched live via the bet365 live sports streaming service.
ITV Racing will offer selected races across all three days for terrestrial viewers in Britain, while Racing TV has live television coverage of every race at the July Festival.
Alongside the top class racing on the turf, Newmarket's July Festival is billed as a showcase of fashion, style & entertainment.
Ladies Day and the Sustainable Style Awards showcase elegance and fashion, as racegoers are offered a chance to showcase summer style with a sustainable twist. There is also after racing entertainment on each of the three days.
The highlights of the meeting on the track are the Falmouth Stakes and the July Cup – both Group 1 contests.
The July Cup dates back to 1876 and is a 6f sprint open to horses aged three years and up. The Falmouth Stakes is a fillies' and mares' contest for three-year-olds and up, run over a mile, first run in 1911.
The July Cup is the centrepiece of the meeting. Three trainers have won the race five times. Charles Morton did it with Sundridge (1903, 1904), Spanish Prince (1912, 1913) and Golden Sun (1914), while his feat was matched by Vincent O'Brien with Thatch (1973), Saritamer (1974), Solinus (1978), Thatching (1979) and Royal Academy (1990).
Modern great Aidan O'Brien – no relation – has won the July Cup with Stravinsky (1999), Mozart (2001), Starspangledbanner (2010), U S Navy Flag (2018) and Ten Sovereigns (2019).
In the Falmouth Stakes, Alec Taylor Jr. set a record of six wins with First Spear (1914), Tomatina (1919), Lady Ava (1920), Blue Lady (1921), Leighon Tor (1922) and Maid of Bath (1924).
That tally has been matched in the modern era by Sir Michael Stoute, whose winners so far were Royal Heroine (1983), Sonic Lady (1986 & 1987), Lovers Knot (1998), Integral (2014) and Veracious (2019).
The late, great Lester Piggott is the benchmark for riders at this meeting.
He won the Group 1 July Cup sprint at Newmarket on 10 occasions across three and a half decades on board Vigo (1957), Right Boy (1958, 1959), Tin Whistle (1960), Thatch (1973), Saritamer (1974), Solinus (1978), Thatching (1979), Moorestyle (1980) and Mr Brooks (1992).
He also won the Falmouth Stakes a record seven times, scoring on Sylphide (1957), Green Opal (1960), Chrona (1966), Vital Match (1969), Chalon (1982), Niche (1993) and Lemon Souffle (1994).
His records are unlikely to be matched.
The most famous July Cup winner of all is Sundridge, who completed a hat-trick of Newmarket wins from 1902-1904. Right Boy won successive renewals in 1958 and 1959 and remains the most recent repeat winner, with no horse able to pull that feat off since the race was granted Group 1 status in 1978.
In the Falmouth Stakes, Sonic Lady won successive renewals in 1986/1987 for Sir Michael Stoute and Walter Swinburn, while that feat was matched in 2004/2005 by Soviet Song for trainer James Fanshawe with Johnny Murtagh on board.