Jim Crowley blog: 'He can win this big prize'

Top jockey Jim Crowley is back with another exclusive Coral blog, previewing his rides on Saturday at Newmarket.

July Cup day begins for me with a nice ride for William Knight, a trainer I go back a long way with, and we’ve enjoyed plenty of success together. Bintabuha made her debut here last month, and ran a nice race to finish second, so we know she acts on the track. It’s reasonable to expect her to improve for that run, and that could put her right in the mix here.

Rochelle ran in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot last time, she ran OK but is having her sights lowered here, which looks the right thing. Before that she finished a good fourth in a Listed race at Longhchamp, and was a winner on Kempton’s all-weather before that. That was over 7 furlongs, which she gets here, and on her best form could outrun decent odds here.

This fellow ran really well to finish fourth at Royal Ascot, that was over seven furlongs and we had been considering dropping him back to six furlongs, as he’s showing so much speed in his races now. I know it seems strange to say that as he has won over a mile, but I do think his future could be over shorter, he’ll run well here I’m sure, but his entry in the Coral Stewards’ Cup, over six, could be really interesting. 

This looks a really strong renewal of the July Cup, and we take on Inisherin again, having finished third behind him in the Commonwealth Cup. I know Clive [Cox, trainer] would have liked to have run him in the Sandy Lane at Haydock, but the soft ground ruled that out, and that missed run could have explained why he was a bit keen at Ascot.

Jasour won the July Stakes here last year, so acts on the track, and Clive is a master with sprinters and knows exactly what it takes to win this race, so while it won’t be easy reversing the form with Inisherin, I will be riding this fellow with the belief we can win this.

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