rest of York Ebor Meeting: day one

the next best race of the day is the Great Voltigeur Stakes for 3yo´s over 1 1/2 miles at 16.05 CET, a major St.Leger trial. Only 6 runners, but thye all have a chance, inclkudimg both of Sir henry cecil, Thomas Chippendale and Noble Mission, Frankel´s younger brother, who will of course be partnered by Tom Queally, and both Mahmood al Zarooni´s Encke (Mikael Barzalone) and Energizer (Frankie Dettori). The latter was bought by Godolphin after his Royal Ascot win in Schlenderhan colours. This is his first try at the distance, but at as a son of Monsun, that should be no problem. Encke was just touched off last time by Noble Mission in Goodwood´s Gordon Stakes, while Thomas Chippendale was a narrow Royal Ascot winner from Noble Mission and Thought Worthy (John Gosden/ William Buick), an own brother to Lucarno who won both this trace and the St. Leger for the stable in 2007. There is lttle between these 5, but the logical winner must be Main Sequence (David Lanigan/ Ted Durcan), runner-up in the Derby and very unlucky last time in the Grand Prix de Paris.
There is another small field for the Group Three Acomb Stakes for 2yo´s over 7 furlongs at 15.30, where all 5 runners were last-time-out winners who are now moving up in grade, Dundonnell (Roger Charlton/ Jack Doyle) and Ebn Arab (Charlie Hills/ Paul Hanagan) made the best impression when winning their maidens, so one of them might win, but again they all have a chance.
As usual the 3 handicaps, all with huge fields, look very difficult. For the record, our two against the field are Kaldoun Kingdom (Richard Fahey/ Hanagan) and Tax Free (David and Adrian Nicholls) over 5 1/2 furlongs at 15.00, Olympiad (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) and Dazinski (Mark Tompkins/ Hanagan) over 2 miles at 17.15, and Spanish Duke (John Dunlop/ Eddie Ahern) and Sir John Hawkwood (Sir Michael Stoute, with William Buick deputising for the injured Ryan Moore) over 10 furlongs at 17.50.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Zero Money - Tax Free - Rex Imperator
2. Race: Dundonnell - Afonso De Sousa - Ebn Arab
3. Race: Main Sequence - Noble Mission - Thomas Chippendale
4. Race: Frankel - St Nicholas Abbey - Farhh
5. Race: Western Prize - Never Can Tell - Olympiad
6. Race: Sir John Hawkwood - Hajras - Kalk Bay