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July Festival 2026 at Newmarket and updates from York and Ascot: horse racing – live | Sport


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Good afternoon and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Flat racing’s annual “Super Saturday” – the busiest and most wide-ranging afternoon of action in the calendar.

There are a dozen races from three different tracks – Newmarket, Ascot and York – on the ITV Racing schedule, including the Group One July Cup – the midsummer sprinting championship – at 4.35, and two of the sport’s most historic and popular handicaps: the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket (3.25) and the John Smith’s Cup at York (3.45).

Along the way there’s also a chance to see the current second-favourite for next season’s 2,000 Guineas, Abraham Lincoln, in action in the Superlative Stakes (Newmarket 4.00), while the second and fourth from the Group One Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot last month take each other on again over the same track and trip at 2.27.

The action at Newmarket is underway at 1.40, after which it is all going to be a bit of a blur until the Group Three Silver Cup closes out the televised action at 4.55, so I’ll be teeing up the main contenders for Group One glory in the July Cup with video form, ratings and pen-pics before it all kicks off.

There will be race-by-race previews too through the afternoon, though there’s a summary of my picks for the dozen ITV races here. So, leap into the saddle, shake the reins and hang on tight: it promises to be quite a ride.

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