Shea Shea delights connections Shea Shea delighted connections in a racecourse workout at Newmarket on Monday morning as part of his preparation for the Darley July Cup. The South African speedster went five furlongs in the hands of work rider Philip Shea on the July Course ahead of the big sprint on Saturday week. Trainer Mike De Kock's assistant Steve Jell was pleased the six-year-old was a lot more relaxed than he had been just two weeks ago at Royal Ascot when he was just beaten by Sole Power in the King's Stand Stakes. That was his first race since he lifted the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in late March. De Kock pulled him out of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the final day of the Royal meeting to wait for the July Cup for which he is 5/1 joint-favourite with Lethal Force. "Shea Shea is a lot more settled after racing at Royal Ascot after a long break and he was fresh going into the race," said Jell. "We didn't run him again at Ascot (in the Diamond Jubilee) as there are so many races in a season and we didn't want to punish him. There's a good couple of races at York and one in France later on. "He ran a good enough race at Ascot anyway. It was really gutting as he was in front such a long time and he would have liked to have been pulled through a bit more. He's more settled now and hopefully he will settle off the pace a bit more and make a run late. "That was a pretty good piece of work this morning and we will analyse the times when we get home. Sure it's a different track but people could see him on it this morning - he galloped here before Ascot and that's his second piece now so he knows what's going on. "Christophe Soumillon will ride him in the July Cup and he'll be our only runner at the meeting. I think he'd be able to run seven furlongs so six shouldn't be a problem for him. "We're still waiting to win a Group One in England but we've not run too many top-class horses here. It will come eventually - you need the right horse and it will come."
