Rest of York

The main supporting race at York is the Group Two Middleton Stakes for older fillies and mares over an extended 10 furlongs at 15.00 CET. This looks at the mercy of Midday (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally), who finished scond to Sariska here last year. There is no Sariska in this field, and Midday, who has 5 Group One victories to her credit, appears to have a simple task, even though she has to concede 5 lbs all round. Timepiece (Ian Mongan), also owned by Khalid Abdullah and trained by Cecil, could well round things off for the stable by taking second place. Saajjhaa (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) having her first run for this stable, who took the Duke of York Stakes here yesterday, could also run into a place. On ratings Music Show (Mick Channon/ Jamie Spencer) is also a danger; her second place to Goldikova at Deauville last August was a good performance, but that race, like most of her other starts, was over a mile and it is not clear that she will stay today´s trip.

The 3 handicaps on the card are extremely difficult, with 18+ runners in each. What is interesting is that last year´s winners are engaged again in all 3 of them. They are Johannes (Richard Fahey) in the 5 furlongs race at 14.30, top-weight Fareer (Ed Dunlop/ Richard Hills) over a mile at 16.00 and Hollins (Micky Hammond/ Freddie Tylicki) over 2 1/4 miles at 17.45. Of these we think that Johannes, whose stable is in tremendous form, has the best prospect of doubling up. However in the mile race, we prefer Balducci (Andrew Balding/ Jimmy Fortune) and Crystal Gal (Lucy Wadham/ Ryan Moore), and in the stayers´ event Warnes Way (Brendan Powell/ KIeren Fallon) and -if it rains- Hawridge Star (Wilf Kittow/ Ryan Moore).

Today´s other meetings are of much less interest, but one should note that many of the jockeys riding at York are also in action at this evening´s meeting at Newmarket, where most of them live. In particular the German-bred and -owned Wild Coco (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally), who makes his debut in the 3o maiden at 20.25, is worth a second look. The opposition includes another German-bred Lyric Street (Luca Cumani/ Fallon), who is out of multiple Group One winner Elle Danzig.