More than £2m up for grabs but one very important person missing at Newmarket's July Festival

THE Flat season is peaking as punters look to pick up a decent pay day at Newmarket's star-studded July Festival.

More than £2million will be up for grabs over the three days with a whole host of Group and handicap action - the perfect time to grab a free bet.

But one very important person will be missing from it all.

There will be no Frankie Dettori at racing's HQ this year.

It means he misses out on his last chance to win Saturday's July Cup - the only Group 1 in Britain that has evaded him throughout his incredible career.

Dettori, 52, has already been forced to sit out rides in the Coral-Eclipse and Prix Jean Prat.

He would have steered Emily Upjohn and Chaldean in both those races - but he dodged a bullet after the former came second and Chaldean flopped completely in Deauville.

Dettori, who is serving a nine-day ban for careless riding at Ascot, was lined up for Kinross in the July Cup.

But Will Buick now gets the leg up on the horse owned by Marc Chan, a close mate of Dettori's.

Buick will also deputise for Dettori on Prosperous Voyage, who's an 8-1 shot for Friday's Group 1 Falmouth Stakes.

The action from Newmarket will be live on ITV1 and Templegate will bring you his top tips for all the action, as well as in-depth verdicts on the TV races.

It all kicks off with the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy Stakes at 1.50 on Thursday, where Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien team up with 2-1 market leader Tower Of London.

Moore, who has been in amazing form this year, told Betfair the colt is 'really blossoming now' so he expects a big run.

Former Derby winner Adayar is the biggest name on day one and he's 1-2 to take the Group 2 Princess Of Wales's Stakes at 3.35.

Nashwa will look to bounce back from her shock Newcastle defeat in the Falmouth on Friday.

While Saturday has the feature July Cup at 4.35, where Royal Ascot hero Shaquille will look to make it a sixth win on the spin for trainer Julie Camacho.

One of the stars of the season, he is 15-8 to pick up the £356,422 first-place prize.

So Frankie or no Frankie, it looks like being a meeting well worth getting stuck into. Good luck!

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• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
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