Thursday’s Newmarket card is built around the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes and the Listed Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes, with a mix of juvenile races, staying talent and competitive handicaps completing the programme. This guide follows the leading stories through the meeting, while keeping an eye on notable runners wherever they appear on the card.
The Tattersalls Stakes: the two-year-old colts and geldings
A field of nine is set to contest the opening Group race of the Cambridgeshire meeting. The race was won by a short-priced favourite 12 months ago but the makeup of this year’s renewal looks entirely more open.
For one thing, there is no Godolphin-owned runner after there were three in the 2025 edition. Instead, the biggest names involved among the training ranks are William Haggas and Karl Burke. They will send Mezzo Forte, the mount of Ryan Moore, and Varzi respectively, the former a ready York maiden winner last time out, the latter having already contested Listed honours.
The early favourite is Great Balls Of Fire for Richard Spencer. The excellently-named two-year-old won his only race so far on the July Course and is, like many in this field, open to any amount of improvement. He is the only runner to have raced just once so far though.
Sontsivka is Oisin Murphy’s ride as he looks to hunt down Billy Loughnane in the jockeys’ title race. The thrice-raced Jim Trott, for Eve Johnson Houghton, and Notable Dream for Marco Botti add further winning experience. The same can be said of Fuel The Jet, who won at the St Leger meeting, and Undiscovered, who have both raced four times. Only Cilician is yet to win, but Brian Meehan’s charge is already rated after four runner-up efforts to date.
The Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes: the staying division
Ten runners is a relatively big turnout for a race that only attracted three runners as recently as 2023. They are headed by John & Thady Gosden’s Gregory, who may take over Trawlerman’s position as the yard’s top stayer. He carries the colours of Wathnan Racing and has previous Group level form.
The Gredley family will see their colours on no fewer than three horses in the race. High class hurdler Burdett Road is their main representative, though stablemate Magnetude and James Fanshawe’s Kelly Burn are both three-year-olds who have improvement in them over longer distances.
Arabian Force is another horse representing powerful connections. He steps up to 2m for the first time, while plenty of eyes will be drawn to Goblet Of Fire: he is trained by jumps maestro Nicky Henderson, who has called up historic St Leger winner Saffie Osborne to partner his hopeful.
Spirit Mixer has been a marathon handicap staple for Andrew Balding, while the Sir Mark Prescott team is always one to watch in long distance races; he saddles Pinatique. Roger Varian’s Orchard Keeper, and the market’s rank outsider Peace Belle, complete the line-up.
The opening races: maiden, fillies’ handicap and nursery
The afternoon begins with a maiden that brings together horses at very different stages. Charlie Appleby introduces Code Of Honour with William Buick booked, while Andrew Balding’s Hamrin makes a first appearance under Oisin Murphy. Sydney Carton has more experience than either, having already run four times, and Netherstream arrives after making the frame on both starts.
The fillies’ handicap that follows has a varied field of three-year-olds and older runners. Bear On The Run has made a promising start to her career, while Zooella comes to Newmarket after back-to-back wins earlier in the season. Woohoo, a regular in this grade, carries a run of placed efforts into the race.
There is no shortage of previous winning form in the nursery. Richard Hughes fields both Harry Knows and Lazurite, while William Haggas’s Not My Type and John and Sean Quinn’s Black Velvet Boy also bring recent victories to the card. It is a useful early test for horses whose juvenile campaigns are beginning to take shape.
The later handicaps and notable runners
The staying handicap (4.10pm) brings together several younger horses who have been progressing through the summer and more experienced rivals. King Of Berkshire, Charles Darnay and Zurna all arrive after recent wins, while La Peregrina has been running consistently in similar races. The punters’ battle will be between choosing horses with momentum or their opponents with more established staying experience.
The closing JRA Japan Cup Handicap brings the meeting back to a mile. A La Noche returns after a win on his latest start, while Ecclefechan and Eloquencia represent the three-year-old generation
The Rowley Mile and Thursday’s conditions
The official going is currently good, good to firm in places, with watering reported and a GoingStick reading of 7.8. The Met Office forecast points to sunny intervals and temperatures around 21°C during the afternoon, with very little chance of rain until later in the evening. If that outlook holds, the going is unlikely to change materially before the card gets under way.
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