York Dante meeting: final day

The third and final day of York´s Dante Meeting has as its main event the Group Two Yorkshire Cup over 1 3/4 miles at 15.30 CET. This is the first of a series of Cup races for stayers although most of them are run over a much longer distance. The distance could be a problem for several runners today - for some because it is possibly too far - e.g. Duncan (John Gosden/ William Buick), who is top-rated but also penalised, and has never yet run beyond 1 1/2 miles, or Native Ruler (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally), beaten a short-head on his reappearance at Newbury last time after a lay-off of 18 months - with the additional risk of of bouncing. Manighar (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon), 7th last time in the Melbourne Cup, possibly needs further, as does Electrolyser (Clive Cox/ Philip Robinson). In a tricky race, our choice is Askar Tau (Marcus Tregoning/ George Baker), out of an Acatenango mare, who won the Sagaro Stakes over 2 miles last time; the Queen´s Free Agent (Richard Hannon/ Ryan Moore) was third then and seemingly held, but after the owner won the Dante yesterday, a Group Two double in the royal colours is certainly possible.

The York card also features 2 listed races for fillies - over 5 furlongs for 2yo´s at 14.30 and over a mile for 3yo´s at 16.00. The former event is one of the best juvenile races so far this season, with 8 previous winners in the line-up. Miss Work of Art (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) is the obvious favourite here; after winning first time out on the all-weather, she stepped up considerably on that form to beat a Hannon hotpot next time out at Ascot and will take all the beating here. The 3yo race should go to Theyskan´ s Theory (Brian Meehan/ Martin Dwyer), 6th of 13 last time out in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies. She has a 5 lbs penalty here, but has easily the highest rating in the field.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Miss Work Of Art - Pyman`S Theory - Sweet Chilli
2. Race: Awsaal - Kansai Spirit - The Fonz
3. Race: Duncan - Native Ruler - Manighar
4. Race: Theyskens` Theory - Flood Plain - Emma`S Gift
5. Race: Mr Optimistic - Oh So Kool - Jamaican Bolt
6. Race: Horseradish - Hoof It - Docofthebay
7. Race: First Battalion - Ittirad - Man Of God