Sir Busker heads to York for the Group 2 City of York Stakes

The William Knight-trained Sir Busker faces 9 rivals in Saturday’s Group 2 City Of York Stakes at York and is drawn in 5 with the excellent Adam Kirby taking the ride (Oisin is at Sandown and Callum is at Chelmsford). There is a real chance of rain on Saturday so fingers crossed they get sufficient quantities to slow the ground down. It is not the actual conditions we are concerned about as we know Sir Busker is versatile but it is the step back in trip on this fast track that is the quandary and therefore slow ground would at least help blunt the speed of the others and bring stamina into play. It so nearly worked out for him last week at Salisbury and his high cruising speed has meant we have toyed with the prospect of trying him over 7f again for some while (he was 2nd in the Bunbury Cup last season over 7f of course). This is a valuable affair and it would fascinating to see how he would get on if mother nature helps us out on Saturday.

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The William Knight-trained Dual Identity was 4th at Kempton this evening under Adam Kirby. A return to a mile a quarter beckons as he did not quite see the trip out having traveled like the winner until the last furlong or so.

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The Andrew Balding-trained Attache was 4th at Salisbury this evening under in form David Probert. He broke smartly and cut out the fractions and just toiled late on. This was a good nursery introduction and he should build on this.

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Semper Augustus 8th in the Racing League at Windsor last night. The Ed Walker-trained gelding missed the break completely and was never in the race from then on sadly, making up some minor late progress to finish 8th of the 11 runners under Safe Osborne. The ground was riding slower than the description and was riding loose on top which also didn’t help

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