Derby favourite and Dante favourite blotted his copy book at York.

He finished out of the frame in the Dante Stakes, leading to the winner Pride of Arras going from 50/1 to 5/1 in the Derby market.  Pride of Arras started on 18/1 for Ralph Beckett and Rossa Ryan and put in a very convincing run which has led to his rapid promotion in the Derby betting.  Damysus was second on 15/1 and our beloved Wimbledon Hawkeye another steady third.

Before that See The Fire won the Middleton Fillies by 12 lengths over Beautiful Love with Royal Dress only a neck away in third.  See The Fire's dam Arabian Queen was also owned by Jeff Smith and she won the Juddmonte International in her day.  Trainer Andfrew Balding said that they are aiming for the Nassau and if all goes well may return to York in August.  She certainly showed she is ready to tackle G1 races.

Very disappointing to see that the Yorkshire Cup only has 5 runners.  It looks as if it should be a lay down misere for Rebel's Romance but this is the first UK start since losing to Danon Decile in the UAE.  That is a more recent outing than Sweet William 3/1 had has as this is first up since October when he ran 4th in the Long Distance Cup.  The one we have a big question mark over is Continuous who did not like Meydan as he doesn't seem to be the type to get off the plane and run a top race a couple of days later but here he is just coming from Ireland and is on 4/1 for O'Brien-Moore.  He's by top Japanese stallion Heart's Cry so if some of that rubs off on him he could surprise.