Godolphin's Late Say With Notable Speech

Dual Group winner over mile is a surprise last-minute entry and favourite in July Cup

- Michael Lee

The late emergence of a new favourite only five days shy of the running of the £600,000 (S$1.04 million) Group 1 July Cup Stakes (1,200m) on July 12 is not all that uncommon.

But when that top pick is only an eleventh-hour addition, even coming across in some quarters as an afterthought, it is seen as a rarer betting drift phenomenon.

The less surprising element is the identity of the payer of the £36,000 supplementary fee.

Only the giants of the racing game like Godolphin, Coolmore or Shadwell have enough depth under their barn roofs to pull off such a stunt, and in this case it is Godolphin, who supplemented not one but two Blue Army horses for the Newmarket sprint classic.

Charlie Appleby's Notable Speech is the new first-elect at 7-2, and was joined by John & Thady Gosden's Spy Chief, a 20-1 outsider.

However, the real story is not so much the cat among the pigeons, but the stark message it has left about this year's renewal of the July Cup not being a vintage crop.