York Ebor meeting: third day

The Group One Nunthorpe Stakes over 5 furlongs at 16.40 CET is today´s main feature at York and it has attracted a really strong field, with fancied candidates from France, Ireland and South Africa taking on the established British sprint stars. Many of these horses have met before, including in this race last year, when Shea Shea (Mike de Kock/ Christophe Soumillon) and Sole Power (Eddie Lynam /Richard Hughes) finished a close second and third. Sole Power, who also won this at 100-1 in 2010 has won the King´s Stand at Royal Ascot twice, this year with Stepper Point (William Muir/ Martin Dwyer) second, Hot Streak (Kevin Ryan/ Jamie Spencer) third, Steps (Roger Varian/ Kieren Fallon) sixth and Take Cover (David Griffiths/ James Doyle) and Shea Shea further back; Shea Shea bled then and can be excused and has for the past 3 years been one of the best horses in the world over this distance, but there has to be a slight question mark now, while Take Cover has shown great improvement since that race and won the big sprint at Glorious Goodwood with Extortionist (Olly Stevens/ Ryan Moore) a neck runner-up, Moviesta (Bryan Smart/ Paul Mulrennan) third, Stepper Point fourth and G Force (David O´Meara/ Danny Tudhope) fifth. Any of these could win today. while two more added to the mix are Cougar Mountain (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) and the French hope Rangali (Henri-Alex Pantall/ Fabrice Veron). O´Brien has already won Group Ones at this meeting; he rarely has runners over sprint distances but Cougar Mountain ran a huge race in the July Cup, leading inside the final furtlong before finishing fifth on only his second career start. However we shall take a chance on Rangali, who looked very fast when defeating the top French specialist Catcall last time at Chantilly.
The main supporting Feature is the Group Two Lonsdale Cup over 2 miles at 15.30, which also has a very strong field, headed by the Queen´s foilly Estimate (Sir Michael Stoute/ Moore), winner of the Gold Cip at ASxot last year and narrowly beaten this time., However she ran badly last time in the Goodwood Cup won by Cavalryman (Saeed bin Suroor/ Kieren Fallon); he is now 8 but in the form of his life, while Times Up (Ed Dunlop/ William Buick) is also that age and won this race in 2012.High Jinks (James Fanshawe/ James Doyle) won a listed race in France last time, while the two Irish runners Certerach (Mike Halford/ Jamie Spencer), especially on Dubai form, and Pale Mimosa (Dermot Weld/ Pat Smullen) must also be considered; Pale Mimosa, also a listed winner last time, has been carefully brought along by Weld and she is our selection.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Semeen - Communicator - Proud Chieftain
2. Race: Cavalryman - Estimate - Pale Mimosa
3. Race: Cable Bay - Rerouted - Glory Awaits
4. Race: Sole Power - Take Cover - Hot Streak
5. Race: Acaster Malbis - Swot - Dissolution
6. Race: Munaaser - Lesha - Extremity