17:33 That’s it from day two of the Cambridgeshire Festival, rather sparsely populated fields this afternoon – in complete contrast to tomorrow.

From a quiet and overcast Newmarket good evening.

17:31 Dreamwalk beat Beauchamp Wizard by eight lengths, not a great deal more to say.

17:19 There is some very heavy betting on this race – here in the press room at least where there is a sweepstake on the winning distance.

17:12 The race before last had four runners, the last three so, yes, the final contest has just two runners.

The Newmarket Whip is a race confined to horses owned by members of the Jockey Club.

There were four runners declared but two have defected, leaving Beauchamp Wizard and Dreamwalk.

Neither of them look like world beaters in the parade ring.

17:00 It is very difficult to write flowing prose about a three runner race, so here are the basics.

Rumble Of Thunder set off in front, with Alainmaar in second and Bab Al Salam in third.

No change in the order until they came to the dip, when Alainmaar and Bab Al Salam came upsides the leader, with Bab Al Salam looking the better of the trio.

Approaching the furlong pole Richard Hills kicked Alainmaar clear and Frankie Dettori was completely unable to respond.

Indeed it was Rumble Of Thunder who chased the leader home although Hills had no worries as Alainmaar came home two and a half lengths clear.

Bab Al Salam was eleven lengths further back in third, although that should be qualified by saying that once Dettori realised he was beaten he did ease his mount.           

16:48 Sky Bet have just announced they are betting each way the first six in the Cambridgeshire tomorrow.

16:41 Only three going to post in The Standing For Success Handicap Stakes over 1¼ miles.

The top one, Alainmaar, has just had a hissy-fit in the parade ring but seemed to calm down once his rug had been removed.

16:27 One of those contests which disproves the theory you need large fields to have an exciting race.

Classic Punch and Drill Sergeant, both confirmed front runners, set the pace as expected. With Frankie Dettori happy to track on Chock A Block and the filly Funday the whipper-in.
Joe Fanning sent Drill Sergeant into a clear lead three out as Classic Punch Dropped out.

Dettori tracked the leader and stayed with him without having to move a muscle on his mount.

As they passed the furlong pole Dettori eased Chock A Block into the lead and it looked as though he would win the contest as he pleased.

Drill Sergeant, however, does not know when he is beaten and he slowly came back to challenge Chock A Block. However the line came just in time for Chock A Block to take the spoils by a diminishing short head.

16:04 Only four runners in the Haafhd Godolphin Stakes, a listed contest over a mile and a half and from the paddock inspection we have a winner almost by default.

Both the filly Funday and  Classic Punch are getting well worked up in the parade ring.

15:51 Something of a shock result in this handicap and it is down to that man Fallon, who produced Swiss Cross with an exquisitely times run to deny the odds-on favourite Esaar in the final strides.

It was a fairly muddling contest early on with Esaar and Invincible Soul prominent and Fallon tracking the front pair.

Coming out of the dip Richard Hills bought Esaar to the front soon taking up a good lead and looking to be home and hosed.

Coming up the hill the favourite just began to look tired and at the same time Fallon launched his challenge with a surgical precision and as the run developed there was only going to be one result.

15:32 Race five is the Nunnery Stud EBF Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs.

Eight are due to face the starter. Mushreq and Total Command are getting a little warm in the ring.

Indigo Ink is slightly on her toes and Swiss Cross has two handlers.

15:20 An interesting race but nothing like as decisive as the fillies race 35 minutes earlier.

Poet’s Voice was the narrow leader for most of the contest, although coming into the dip the field were four abreast, with Radiohead tracking the field.

Coming up the hill it was Mark Johnston’s Awzaan who ran on best of all taking up the running with Showcasing looking to be the only challenger. Poet’s Voice was not responding to Dettori’s urgings and Arctic was beaten.

Inside the furlong Awzaan still had a good lead over Showcasing but then Martin Dwyer launched Radiohead with a late run and certainly finishing best of all.

For Awzaan the line came in time but Radiohead ran on well to deny Showcasing the runners-up spot.

Poet’s Voice was disappointing back in fourth and Arctic came home last.

14:55 Time for the boys to take centre stage in the Shadwell Middle Park Stakes, again over six furlong.

Only five to face the starter and all look nice in the parade ring.

14:42 Well an impressive winner to the Cheveley Park stakes as the French raider, Special Duty, battled on bravely and impressively to win the contest by 2¾ lengths.

Critique Head-Maarek’s filly was to the fore throughout and had a good lead coming out of the dip.

The favourite, Lady Of The Desert, who had been settled fourth or fifth throughout the contest launched a challenge as they came out of the dip.

She was soon alongside the French raider and it looked as though the favourite was going to win easily. However she could not get past the French raider.

At the furlong marker it looked as though there would be a dour battle to the line, instead Special Duty just pulled clear, making her rivals look leaded hoofed.

The winning trainer said, "It looks like she will get a mile as at the end she was going away. I hope we'll come back for the Guineas next year.

"Horses make good trainers. It's easy to train them."

14:22 Race three is the first of our big races this afternoon, the Group 1 Electrolux Cheveley Park Stakes for fillies over six furlongs.

Quite a few of them on their toes in the parade ring. Most notably Misheer and Shamandar.

14:08 This turned out to be a cracking little contest.

Ordnance Row broke quickly to take the early lead but the pace was soon being set by Khateeb and Confront.

Young Pretender and Forgotten Voice were in second rank.

Three our Ryan Moore sent Confront to the front and coming out of the dip he had a clear lead on his rivals.

Young Pretender looked to be the best of the Godolphin contenders at that point and Frankie Dettori had to shake up Rio De La Plata to get a run.

Coming up the hill Confront began to look tired and Rio De La Plata was eating into his lead.

Forgotten Voice also found a second wind to join the fray.

A good battle followed in the final half furlong but Confront had just enough left in the locker to hold on by half a length from Rio De La Plata, with Forgotten Voice a further half back in third.

Donativum was doing his best work in the closing stages and ran on well to deny Young Pretender fourth spot.    

13:52 Confront looks good going down and is currently the clear 6/4 favourite.

13:49 The Group 3 Nayef Joel Stakes over a mile is the second contest and Godolphin have three of the nine runners.

As would be expected in a contest like this the runners all look pretty good in the parade ring with little to choose between them.

Jockey booking suggest Rio de La Plata is the pick of the three Godolphin runners but I liked the look of the “second string” Donativum.

13:40 Well Sweet Sonnet was withdrawn, leaving Frankie as a mere spectator. I’m not sure how much of the race he actually saw but if he did see it he would have seen a very impressive winner in the shape of Tabassum, who followed up on her July course success.

Fairy Promises set the steady pace, tracked by Hasty, Amary and Crown, with Richard Hills happy to settle Tabassum nearer last than first.

The favourite, Blue Maiden, was held up second last.

As they came out of the dip Richard Hills pressed the button and Tabassum responded well. It briefly looked as though she had a fight on her hands as Electric Feel under Martin Dwyer went with her and looked a serious challenger.

However inside the final furlong Tabassum pulled clear, claiming an easy four length victory.

Electric Feel was an impressive looking runner-up, whilst Hasty held on for third spot.

13:21 Sweet Sonnet has unshipped Frankie Dettori on the way to the start and the horse has just been caught by the 9f start.

13:15 The runners are in the parade ring for our opening contest, the seven furlong, Sakhee Oh So Sharp Stakes for fillies.

For two year old fillies they are pretty well behaved in the parade ring.

Blue Maiden is pulling her handler about, Sweet Sonnet has two handlers and Tabassum is jig-jogging round the ring.

Fairy Promise looks anything but fairy like, she is huge.

There are now some spits and spots of rain in the air and there is a brisk wind, blowing right to left as they progress down the straight.

12:46 Good afternoon from an overcast Newmarket. We have another two non-runners, one of them bringing the final race down to a match. 48 runners in an eight race card.

10:49 Another two non-runners and some of the fields are now getting silly.

10:13 And a third non-runner.

09:11 Another non-runer, Bothy is out of the Newmarket Whip, leaving just three to go to post.

07:35 Another dry night at headquarters and the going is Good to Firm. The course was watered yesterday evening with 4mm of water being applied over the last six furlongs.

Our selections for this afternoon are:-

Return to race archive:

Non-Runners

The time in brackets is the time the horse was officially declared a non-runner.

SC - Self Certificate
VC - Vet's Certificate

13:25
8 Pipette (going - 10:10)

14:30
4 Nimue (Lame - VC 11:08 Thu)

15:40
1 Azimuth (Coughing - SC 12:23)

16:50
3 Inhibition (lame - VC 10:11)
4 Elliptical (going - 10:03)

17:25
1 Bothy (Temperature - VC 09:04)
2 Opera Prince (going - 11:46)


Results

13:25 Fillies Stakes 7f

1st 10 Tabassum 5/2
2nd 5 Electric Feel 12/1
3rd 7 Hasty 10/1
8 Ran Nr 8 w/d 9
Distances 4 & 2 3/4
Fav 3 Blue Maiden 2/1 (5th)
Tote
Win £2.80
Places £1.20 £2.60 £2.30
Exacta £25.60
CSF £23.33
Time 1' 23.90"
Rule 4 - 15p in £

13:55 Nayef Joel Stakes 1m

1st 3 Confront 7/4 fav
2nd 6 Rio De La Plata 4/1
3rd 4 Forgotten Voice 5/1
9 Ran
Distances 1/2 & 1/2
Fav winner
Tote
Win £2.50
Places £1.10 £1.70 £1.90
Exacta £8.50
CSF £8.58
Time 1' 36.18"

14:30 Cheveley Park Stakes 6f

1st 9 Special Duty 3/1
2nd 3 Misheer 9/1
3rd 2 Lady Of The Desert 11/8 fav
8 Ran Nr 4
Distances 2 3/4 & head
Fav
Tote
Win £3.00
Places £1.20 £2.40 £1.3
Exacta £24.30
CSF £29.92
Time 1' 10.38"

15:05 Middle Park Stakes 6f

1st 2 Awzaan 4/1
2nd 4 Radiohead 14/1
5 Ran
Distance 3/4
Fav 3 Ports Voice 15/8 (4th)
Tote
Win £5.00
Places £2.20 £3.30
Exacta £33.10
CSF £45.01
Time 1' 10.11"

15:40 Maiden Stakes 1m

1st 5 Swiss Cross 10/1
2nd 2 Esaar 10/11 fav
3rd 3 Invincible Soul 20/1
8 Ran Nr 1
Distances
Fav second
Tote
Win £9.90
Places £1.80 £1.10 £4.30
Exacta £24.90
CSF £19.32
Time 1' 24.72"


16:15 Haafhd Godolphin Stakes 1m 4f

1st 3 Chock A Block 7/4
2nd 2 Drill Sergeant 11/8 fav
4 Ran
Distances short head
Fav second
Tote
Win £2.70
Exacta £5.80
CSF £4.51
Time 2' 29.27"

16:50 Handicap 1m 2f

1st 1 Alainmaar evens fav
2nd 5 Rumble Of Thunder 7/1
3 Ran Nr's 3 & 4
Distances 2 1/2
Fav winner
Tote
Win £1.80
Exacta £5.30
CSF £6.00
Time 2' 03.93"

17:25 Newmarket Whip 1m 2f

4 Dreamwalk 4/11
beat
3 Beauchamp Wizard 2/1
2 Ran Nr's 1 & 2
Distances 8
Fav winner
Tote
Win £1.40