Did they really just do that? Shaquille and City Of Troy leave Newmarket buzzing

No racecourse wants a 26-year partnership to end, but when replacing Darley with Pertemps as July Cup sponsor, the Jockey Club hit upon a neat fit.

There cannot have been many runnings of Newmarket's summer centrepiece more suited to being supported by a recruitment company. The connections of Shaquille, Kinross and Khaadem all needed to find a replacement jockey for their sprinting stars. Whether or not the employment expertise of Pertemps was used is unknown, but three riders were duly found. For Rossa Ryan, it was a search that reaped an exceptional reward.

There is clearly no reason to think Sheikh Mohammed is soon to go looking for a fresh licence holder at Moulton Paddocks, yet Charlie Appleby came to the races on Saturday having endured two difficult afternoons thanks to the Group 2 reverses of Adayar and Star Of Mystery at odds of 1-3 and 1-6. If you imagined Appleby had been left deflated, you would be wrong.