John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Wednesday.
Three points of interest
Holkham Bay one to note for successful trainer/jockey combination
York’s Churchill Tyres Handicap (14:42) will no doubt be the first of many competitive sprints at the Knavesmire this year. Kevin Ryan has won this race for the last two years and both his runners, course-and-distance winner Bergerac and hat-trick seeker We Never Stop, have claims. Two Tribes also makes plenty of appeal after going close on his reappearance at Newmarket, especially with Ryan Moore booked. But it’s another likeable type, Holkham Bay, who looks the one to concentrate on.
He had three runs at York in 2024, having excuses at the Ebor meeting but faring much better earlier in the year over today’s six furlongs. Beaten a short head on the first occasion, he then went one better in June when successful under 10-0 minus the 5 lb claim of his apprentice rider Brandon Wilkie. That was the first of Holkham Bay’s three wins last year as he was twice successful at Ascot afterwards. He won the Shergar Cup Dash under South African jockey Rachel Venniker and ended 2024 with a career-best effort in October when partnered by Oisin Murphy for the first time.
That victory added to Murphy’s excellent record when teaming up with Holkham Bay’s trainer William Knight, a partnership which in the last five years has yielded six wins from 21 races at a strike rate of 29%. Murphy is back on board Holkham Bay here for the first time since. Holkham Bay needed his first start back at Southwell but ran much better at Goodwood last time when shaping well in fifth behind Rosario but likely to have gone closer still with a clearer run, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. That was over a sharp five furlongs, but the return to York’s six furlongs promises to suit him better still.
Night Raider can pass turf test in Duke of York
Four wins from four starts on the all-weather. Three defeats from three runs on turf. That’s the record so far of Night Raider, one of three runners for Karl Burke in the 1895 Duke of York Stakes (15:13) which is therefore an important test for the four-year-old who holds entries in the King Charles III Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. But despite his seemingly unappealing record on turf, Night Raider had valid excuses for each of those defeats last season. The 2000 Guineas was too far for him and he pulled much too hard again over seven furlongs in the Jersey Stakes. A six-furlong listed race at Newmarket was a more suitable trip but, allowed to make the running this time, he didn’t last home on soft ground.
However, back on the all-weather later in the year, Night Raider confirmed earlier impressions that he was destined for bigger things, and he signed off with a most impressive win in the listed Golden Rose Stakes at Newcastle. Travelling powerfully in front, Night Raider was clear by halfway and just had to be kept up to his work to win by nearly four lengths from Annaf. That earned Night Raider the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, while his rating of 122 was right up with the best six-furlong performances on turf last year.
A reproduction of that effort on turf would make Night Raider a serious rival to the likes of last year’s Commonwealth Cup winner Inisherin who needs to bounce back from below-form efforts in the July Cup and Sprint Cup on his last two outings last year. York’s flat six furlongs with the going on the firm side should make for ideal conditions for Night Raider to prove himself an equally exciting sprinter on turf in a race sponsored by his owners Clipper Logistics.
Overdue first win for blue-blooded Don Simon?
There are some nicely-bred fillies in the Musidora Stakes earlier on the card, but more surprisingly a couple of the runners in York’s concluding handicap over a mile and a half (17:25) are sons of classic-winning dams. One of those is Maghlaak who is out of the 2009 1000 Guineas winner Ghanaati. He’s been in winning form over hurdles during the winter and is one of several potential dangers, but the one who makes most appeal is younger gelding Don Simon.
The fact that he’s contesting a 0-85 handicap shows that he hasn’t fully lived up to his blue-blooded pedigree, as he’s by Sea The Stars out of the high-class Snow Fairy, who completed the Oaks/Irish Oaks double in 2010 before overseas success at the top level in Japan and Hong Kong later in her career, as well as beating high-class male rivals Nathaniel and St Nicholas Abbey in the Irish Champion Stakes. Snow Fairy’s trainer Ed Dunlop has also had success with her earlier foals Virgin Snow and John Leeper, the latter a smart listed winner who finished fourth in the Ebor.
Don Simon is still to get his head in front, though he remains lightly raced, having run only six times and just once so far on turf. He was beaten a long way on heavy ground, but firmer conditions could prove more suitable, and he comes here after a couple of narrow defeats on the all-weather in the spring which suggest a first career victory isn’t far away.
Don Simon was well backed for his latest start at Chelmsford when going down by a short head to another unexposed type in Steel Tiger. He heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings here and can get off the mark with Ryan Moore keeping the ride; it was Don Simon’s dam who provided Moore with his first classic victory.
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