{"id":58588,"date":"2026-07-08T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=58588"},"modified":"2026-07-08T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:28:00","slug":"july-festival-handicap-best-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"July Festival: Handicap Best Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calico Blue (Betway Handicap, Thursday)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really like the claims of Roger Varian\u2019s CALICO BLUE<\/strong>, who was a big eye-catcher behind Bacio when fourth of 27 at Royal Ascot in a competitive handicap and has surprisingly been left on the same mark. The return to six furlongs should be right up his street given how well he finishes his races and I think he\u2019s got a serious chance of collecting this pot on just his third start in these ranks.<\/p>\n

Goblet Of Fire (Betway Trophy, Friday)<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday, GOBLET OF FIRE<\/strong> must be worth a second look. Nicky Henderson\u2019s charge has been in good form in this sphere and was last seen beating Align The Stars with a lot up his sleeve last time out. That form has been significantly boosted as the runner-up has subsequently landed the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle. He\u2019s gone up 7lb but there\u2019s surely more to come and I can see him having a massive say in the outcome with Saffie Osborne retained for the ride.<\/p>\n

Great Acclaim (Bunbury Cup, Saturday)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the big handicap on Saturday, GREAT ACCLAIM<\/strong> stands off the page. The five-year-old has an amazing, consistent record over this trip, with figures reading 421224323. He\u2019s placed in both the Victoria Cup and Buckingham Palace on his last couple of starts, just about touched off in a three-way photo last time out and has miraculously been left on the same mark. If he can continue his good work ethic, then I see no reason why another big effort isn\u2019t on the cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calico Blue (Betway Handicap, Thursday) I really like the claims of Roger Varian\u2019s CALICO BLUE, who was a big eye-catcher behind Bacio when fourth of 27 at Royal Ascot in a competitive handicap and has surprisingly been left on the same mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":54857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[376],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing"],"yoast_head":"\nJuly Festival: Handicap Best Bets - Colossus Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I really like the claims of Roger Varian\u2019s CALICO BLUE, who was a big eye-catcher behind Bacio when fourth of 27 at Royal Ascot in a...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"July Festival: Handicap Best Bets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I really like the claims of Roger Varian\u2019s CALICO BLUE, who was a big eye-catcher behind Bacio when fourth of 27 at Royal Ascot in a...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T12:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/BackgroundRacing.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1748\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"856\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steven Dowler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Architect_Tips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steven Dowler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steven Dowler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23179d6f9ed2824b16e7ca07e5ada3d0\"},\"headline\":\"July Festival: Handicap Best Bets\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T12:00:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":269,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/BackgroundRacing.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Racing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2026\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/july-festival-handicap-best-bets\\\/\",\"name\":\"July Festival: Handicap Best Bets - 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