There’s a good looking renewal of the Listed John Smith’s City Walls Stakes at York this afternoon, with plenty of Group One horses having a go.
With Caravaggio, Lady Aurelia, The Tin Man, Limato, Tasleet and Harry Angel somewhat dominating the sprinting division right now, some good horses are forced to drop in class to get their noses in front.
Goldream has the best overall form given his brace of Group One wins in 2015, however that seems a distant memory now and he never won those with much in hand.
The standard has been raised since then, but ten-year-old Take Cover has been holding his form remarkably well in recent years and arrives here after running a blinder in fifth in the Group One King’s Stand Stakes won by Lady Aurelia.
He’s drawn high by the stand-side rail – on the other side of the track to Goldream – and has the tendency to drift right in his races, so he’ll have the considerable benefit of the rail to straighten him up.
The big negative is the rain that’s falling at York, and that’s got to take away from his chances.
I like the two three-year-olds in this race: Fashion Queen (18/1) and KYLLANG ROCK (14/1), who were the 1-2 over course and distance earlier in the season when plenty of rain had fallen.
They both look flexible with ground conditions so the rain is no negative, and there’s every reason to believe they’re still improving, despite Fashion Queen running poorly next time out.
Kyllang Rock was also beaten next time out by Final Venture, who re-opposes here, but there’s plenty of reasons to believe he’ll reverse that form given his scope for improvement and slight swing in the weights.
He’s got the same official rating as the favourite, Judicial, yet his three-year-old weight-for-age allowance puts him 5lb well-in here.
14/1 seems a fair each-way price at a course he likes, and I’m expecting him to reverse the form with Fashion Queen – though there’s little in it.
0.5pt each-way Kyllang Rock @14/1, 16:15 York, Saturday (Bet365)
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