Who To Follow On Day One At York

The feature race on day one of the Ebor meeting is the Group One Juddmonte International and we are siding with the John Gosden trained Lord North.

One of the most progressive horses on the the flat this term has been the John Gosden trained runner who last season was running in Handicaps and this year has stepped up to land fiercely contested Group Ones.

Consistency is something that this horse is known for, not finishing outside the top two in his last six events and recently showing his class in better races.

This term Lord North is unbeaten, landing the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Haydock and off the back of that taking the Group One Prince Of Wales's Stakes at the royal meeting.

Although this will be his toughest assignment to date he warrants respect from the field and could just be the value angle.

John Gosden although without Frankie Dettori on his horses has some huge chances across the week at York and enters the festival in some fine form.

After landing two group events at the weekend in France and some smart winners in England he currently holds a strike rate of 35.29% with 12 winners from 39 runners.

There are not many tracks that Gosden does not do well at but York is up there with one where he gets reliable winners every season and has a 25% win rate on the knavesmire for the last 12 months.

His big chances on day one include Lord North in the Juddmonte International and the very exciting Darain in the Great Voltigeur, with the 3.5 million horse looking to extend his unbeaten record to three races.

Godolphin have had a good time of things this season and that has largely been down to the riding ability of William Buick, having landed 50 winners already this season.

The Norwegian rider has some decent chances on day one with one of the best being Cloudbridge in the Group Three Acomb Stakes.

Buick in the last fortnight has has seven winners from 33 rides which sees him pose a strike rate of 21.21% and on top of that he has an outside chance of landing the jockeys championship so will need every win he can get, that makes him a man to follow.