Forecast's Grey for the Ebor

Graham Cunningham13 April 2012

It's the trophy every card-carrying Yorkshire trainer wants on his mantlepiece.

Few succeed, but the White Rose team will be out in force on the Knavesmire tomorrow as they strive to keep the £185,000 Tote Ebor Handicap at home with a team including five plausible contenders.

Honorary Yorkie, Mark Johnston, still points to Quick Ransom's success in 1992 as one of the wins that propelled him into racing's Premiership, but the vastly improved Scott's View has been balloted out and Mana d'Argent will find the emphasis on pace far from ideal.

Sarangani cruises through his races, and his effortless win here in May remains one of the most striking handicap performances seen all season.

His ebullient trainer Mick Easterby would cherish an Ebor win. So would his nephew Tim, who saddles Bourgeois and Bollin Nellie, while Chris Fairhurst is pitching for what would be a career-changing success with his recent Ascot winner King's Welcome.

Southern raiders, like Barathea Blazer and the poorly-drawn Charley Bates. have also attracted support, but this year's Ebor could be bound for John Dunlop's Sussex yard via the ultra-progressive Harlestone Grey (nap).

The majority of recent Ebor winners have been lightly raced horses from top yards with the scope to make a splash outside handicap company.

Harlestone Grey falls firmly into that category. Six runs in his debut season last year yielded bags of promise, including a cracking effort at this meeting, but it was last time out at Goodwood in May that the Shaamit gelding really impressed.

On that occasion, Harlestone Grey quickened like a good horse to get upsides Warrsan and failed by only a head to beat a very well handicapped rival.

He's missed several tempting options since, but this has been his big target and today's 12-1 could look very attractive come 3pm tomorrow.

If the Ebor is the big punting race of the day then the Aston Upthorpe Yorkshire Oaks will have purists drooling.

Picking holes in some of the best fillies in training is far from easy, though Quarter Moon's increasingly headstrong nature has to be a negative.

Kazzia has little to prove after galloping her 1,000 Guineas and Oaks rivals into submission, but whether her loping stride can counter Islington's turn of finishing speed is another matter.

Sir Michael Stoute's filly demolished a field, including Quarter Moon, in Goodwood's Nassau Stakes last time.

Islington showed the sort of acceleration in that race which could prove to be irresistible here.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in