Turgenev Fancied to Take Newmarket Listed Contest

Turgenev will be remembered by many punters as the horse that lost in Frankie Dettori’s quest for a clean sweep at Royal Ascot. He was the 5th leg and came on the back of four winners for the Italian jockey. Generally 20/1+ on the morning of the race, he was sent off a very short priced favourite but much to the relief of the bookmakers, he could only manage second despite what was a brilliant ride from Dettori on him.

The horse returns to action today, and he goes up in class to listed company, although the race looks like it poses an easier task form him than what he had last time out. One big positive from Royal Ascot was his ability to handle the drop back in trip. He went back to a mile there and managed to race handy before kicking clear, only to be caught on the line. The trip appeared to suit him a lot better than the 1m2f trip he had been racing at, and he continues at a mile here, which I see as a positive.

Officially if you look at this race, it is a step up from handicap company although the actual quality of horses up against Turgenev here isn’t a step up. He is the joint-top rated in the race at 108 after his solid run at Royal Ascot, and that drop into handicap company came on the back of runs in Group Two and listed races, so he is more than capable of mixing it with good horses. He was a credible 5th in the Dante, and that is a result you can probably upgrade slightly as it was over slightly too far in distance for him.

Turgenev will forever be linked with finishing second at Royal Ascot, but he should still go on to have a very good racing career. The key to him could well be dropping back to one mile, something we saw to good effect at Royal Ascot. A repeat of that run puts him right up there with the best in this, and I think that level will be enough to win this race.

I’ll be backing Turgenev to go one better than Royal Ascot and win on day one of the July Festival.