Luke Morris, the man who has ridden more winners in Britain than anyone else in 2016, has been booked to ride the American challenger, Mongolian Saturday, in the Group 1 Darley July Cup on Saturday, 9th July.
A £500,000 event run over six furlongs, the Darley July Cup is the fourth of seven legs in the Sprint category of the QIPCO British Champions Series and is also the seventh of the ten races that make up the Global Sprint Challenge.
Winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last October, Mongolian Saturday is trained in America by the Mongolian national, Enebish Ganbat. Ridden by his groom, Santiago Aragon, he moved steadily over much of the final seven furlongs of the Adnams July Course and was only asked to quicken up for the last quarter mile.
Enebish Ganbat, trainer of Mongolian Saturday, said afterwards:
“I am more experienced now and have learned that you can’t work your horses so fast here, especially uphill and on soft ground which takes a lot of energy. It’s very different to America.”
“Before Royal Ascot he went four furlongs in 43 and a half seconds and that was too much, it finished him.”
“We also discovered after Ascot that he was suffering from a big ulcer but, thanks to the help of Tristan Sander [of Baker & McVeigh Veterinary Practice], we have been treating him ever since.”
“I am not sure about winning the Darley July Cup but I am sure that he will run better than at Ascot.”
“We have booked Luke Morris to ride him but unfortunately his owner will not be here to see him as the race clashes with the biggest meeting in Mongolia, staged near Ulan Bator, where some of the races are run over a 15 mile course and can have more than 700 runners.”
