Hugo Palmer Newmarket Thursday runners blog: 'They'll have to find plenty to beat him'

Hugo Palmer has three runners on the first day of the July Festival at Newmarket, on Thursday, July 9, 2026. The Coral ambassador previews them all in his latest exclusive blog.

Hugo Palmer Thursday runners blog - July 9, 2026

Hugo Palmer Thursday runners schedule - Newmarket

• Adaay Of Scarlett - Newmarket - 2.25 race odds

• Tegernsee - Newmarket - 4.10 race odds

• Lion Of Alba - Newmarket - 5.20 race odds

We're looking forward to the opening day of the July Festival at Newmarket, where we have three runners across the card.

2.25 Newmarket – Adaay Of Scarlett

Adaay Of Scarlett comes here after an excellent performance last time in the Coventry Stakes and hasn't missed a beat since. We've been very happy with him at home – he's trained super, looks great and is continuing to develop all the time.

It's a small field and, on what they've achieved so far, he's set the standard. That said, with young horses there's always the possibility that one or two of the others could improve, but they'll have to find plenty to beat him. We're looking forward to this race and hoping he can take another step forward.

4.10 Newmarket – Tegernsee

Tegernsee makes her racecourse debut and she's a filly we've been pleased with from the outset. She's done everything nicely at home, and we've been happy with the work she's shown us.

She was quite an expensive breeze-up purchase and is a filly we like, but this is very much her first day at school. Whatever she does, she'll learn plenty from the experience, and we're looking forward to seeing how she gets on.

5.20 Newmarket – Lion Of Alba

Lion Of Alba heads into the handicap after running a super race at Royal Ascot. We were really pleased to see him bounce back to form there, and I'd expect him to come on again for that effort.

This is another competitive handicap with a big field, so it certainly won't be straightforward, but if he can build on his Ascot run, I'm hopeful he'll be competitive once again.

Hopefully we can get the July Festival off to a positive start and have three horses who can do themselves justice.