Group Two Yorkshire Cup Stakes Guide 2021

The five year old who has won seven of his last nine starts with his two only blemishes on his record coming in the 2019 St Leger and King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The son of Australia in 2019 was one of the most progressive horses in training Landing a hat-trick of races before heading to Doncaster for the Group One St Leger and finishing a narrow second to superstar Logician.

Having suffered an injury setback he was out for a long period of time and was not seen as a four year old, but has returned this term in the same winning form.

This season he has been seen twice to date, winning on seasonal debut at Nottingham over 1m6f when beating Ocean Road in a Listed event and he backed that up again last time out over 1m4f in the Group Two Jockey Club Stakes.

He seems to be getting better with age and heading into the Yorkshire Cup in some superb form, he looks very hard to look past.

The four year old son of Derby winner Authorized really burst onto the racing scene last year having landed both his contests in fine style starting with a dominating display in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.

He then dropped back two furlongs to contest the Irish Derby at the Curragh last Saturday and he managed to stay the trip the best of the pack just fending off stablemate Tiger Moth to take the Classic honours.

After landing his first Group One event, Santiago was tried at two miles for the first time in his career next time out at Goodwood and was outclassed by Stradivarius.

On his final start last term in the Group One St Leger at Doncaster finishing fourth behind the likes of Galileo Chrome, Berkshire Rocco and Pyledriver.

Back for his seasonal debut he finished fourth at Navan over 1m6f in the Group Three Vintage Crop and looked a perfect stepping stone for this race and he has no excuses.

The five year old son of Galileo was stepped up to the staying division last season having finished a close third in the Group One St Leger back in 2019.

In June 2020 the 100,000gns purchase made his seasonal debut in this race at Newcastle and went on to take it in fine style.

He then went into the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and he finished a good second behind Stradivarius, with the superstar stayer giving arguably the performance of his career.

It was a case of playing second fiddle to Gosden's staying star once more in the Goodwood Cup and he ended the term at York in the Group Two Lonsdale Cup when a close third behind Enbihaar.

The gelding made his seasonal debut at Ascot in the Group Three Sagaro Stakes and not for the first time he chased home Stradivarius into third.

He will need to be better than that and dropping in trip looks a negative.

The five year old will be ridden by William Buick and has been very progressive during the last year or so, running against good company over marathon trips and performing well.

Three starts ago in September he went on to land the Group Two Dubai World Cup over 2m2f, but then went to Ascot on Champions Day and could only finish seventh in the Long Distance Cup ran on soft ground.

That bad run can be put down to a blip and not having his ground and he bounced back to form next time out in Saudi Arabia when a good second in a handicap over 1m7f.

He has since been seen again in Meydan finishing a fair fifth in the Group Two Dubai Gold Cup behind the smart Subjectivist, but now dropping in trip he could be vulnerable.

The final runner of the event is the talented Wells Farhh Go that is making his first appearance for 587 days having picked up numerous injury setbacks.

The six year old was a bright horse back in 2017 when making his debut, winning both his first two events as a juvenile at York.

Other big scalps during his short career have been the Group Three Bahrain Trophy over 1m5f at Newmarket and the Listed Fred Archer Stakes over 12f.

In his last three runs in 2019 he fell off the boil slightly and it looks a massively tough task for him to go close in this after so long off.

He also will not want much rain.