It's that time of the year when things start to roll, May into June, with a glut of evening fixtures. The jockeys get very busy trying to travel to two or three meetings a day. The sun is usually out and that helps everyone along but it's a little greyer today. It's very busy but there is some excellent racing, not just at York on the final day of the Dante meeting but at Newbury and Newmarket.
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Before we talk about today let's look back at Thursday's Dante Stakes. It wasn't exactly Dante's Inferno but it was a bit of a burn up for the favourite Twice Over, who didn't appear to enjoy letting himself down on the quicker ground on the Knavesmire. He began to hang fire about a furlong from home.
It was a really gritty performance from Tartan Bearer to just edge out Aidan O'Brien's Frozen Fire and I think the pair of them are bonafide Vodafone Derby contenders in a year when the Derby picture is about as clear as mud and doesn't really look like getting any clearer.
They have got to take their chance. No horse, perhaps with the except of last weekend's winner in Ireland [Casual Conquest], has really established themselves as the leading three-year-old middle-distance colt and the Derby looks a very open race.
Racing UK has some really fantastic action on this afternoon, but all my tips run at York - I thought I would focus on the best-quality racing.
I kick off in the 2.40, the Yorkshire Cup, with Honolulu. Aidan O'Brien seems to have such a strong hand in the staying division this season and he is almost impossible to oppose. I think the main danger is Royal And Regal but the ground is going to be far to quick for him and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't run. Sergeant Cecil, meanwhile, is bang out of form, so it's Honolulu for me and he may even go off odds on.
In the 3.45 Rash Judgement has some terrific form behind the likes of Corrybrough and Generous Thought. Stuart Kittow is a good trainer and I think this horse can keep improving.
Coincidentally I've gone for number three again in the 4.20. Buchaill Dona represents the same connections who won the opening race yesterday with Tournedos. This horse finished ahead of that one at Chester last time from a really bad draw, and you know what a bad draw at Chester means, but he is well drawn today and the straight six furlongs should suit him. I think the time has come for Buchaill Dona.