A six-furlong Group 3 race at York Racecourse featuring the sprinter Spicy Marg, trained by Michael Bell.
Spicy Marg is running in the William Hill Summer Stakes at York Racecourse on Friday 10 July. It's a Group 3 sprint over six furlongs on the Knavesmire, and this year it comes with a record prize of £100,000. The three-year-old is trained by Michael Bell.
If you've been following the season, you'll know she's already been close to the top. She finished second in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, losing by a head under jockey Tom Marquand. That near-miss is exactly why this run at York is one to watch — she's proved she can go toe-to-toe with the best in the division, and she's coming into this one with that form fresh in her book.
There's a bit of a story behind how she got here, too. Her owner is Emma Banks, a music-industry agent who works with the likes of Florence and the Machine and Lorde. Banks had a choice: pay a £40,000 supplementary fee to run in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket, or stick with this Group 3 at York. She went for the latter, choosing the Knavesmire over the July Cup. It's a calculated move, and it means Spicy Marg is one of the big names in the field rather than a long shot in a deeper race.
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She's also entered for the Group 1 Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes later in the season, so this is part of a wider summer campaign. It's worth remembering she's shown a fair bit of versatility this year, too: she started over a mile in the 1,000 Guineas before dropping back to six furlongs, and she's been running her best races since the move. The Summer Stakes is a six-furlong sprint at York Racecourse on Friday 10 July, with £100,000 in prize money.
