made virtually all, ridden over 2f out, edged right over 1f out, stayed on well under pressure
steadied start, held up in rear, ridden over 2f out, headway over 1f out, hard ridden and soon every chance, not quicken close home
tracked leaders, pushed along over 3f out, ridden over 2f out, kept on inside final furlong
tracked leaders, ridden over 2f out, not much room over 1f out, kept on
with winner, ridden over 2f out, weakened final furlong
towards rear, pushed along and outpaced over 3f out, no impression final furlong
A disappointing turnout numerically but plenty of quality to the first race of the Ebor Festival. Mark Johnston has a good record at the track and he won this race a couple of years ago with the smart Bijou D'Inde. He is represented on this occasion by Bourbonnais. Second in the Champagne Victor Vintage Stakes to Dublin (who was wearing the second colours on that day), he is a previous winner at the track and is taken as the Teamtalk selection. The main danger looks to be Wahsheeq. Ed Dunlop's stable have been in much better form of late and this horse already holds plenty of fancy entries for later in the season. A recent winner of the Trundle Stakes at Goodwood, he is clearly progressive and should go close. Frankie Dettori rides Amandus for the Loder team. He was second in an Ascot maiden to a Johnston trained runner last time out but the visor has been left off today. Salcombe floored a Richard Hannon hotpot on his debut and hails from an in-form yard. The negative is that the race only had three runners and it is difficult to evaluate the worth of that form. Armada Grove comes here after a win on the all-weather while Glenviews Purchase is out of his depth in this company.
