York offers a superb card of racing on Saturday and in the first race of the day in the Nursery Handicap we have gone for Viceregent for Richard Fahey.
This two year old colt is a son of Nathaniel which shows off a nice pedigree but from his four runs so far he will have to improve from his recent exploits.
With that in mind he ran his best race on heavy ground so should have conditions in his favour for this run and the horse that beat him that day has a Group Three entry.
Lampang for trainer Tim Easterby certainly looks the horse to beat in the Listed Rockingham Stakes over six furlongs with the next best to the favourite being a 7/1 shot.
The King Power owned colt has won both his starts to date in great fashion at Ripon and Carlisle with his latest coming on good to soft ground meaning he should handle the cut in the turf.
Silvestre de Sousa is back in the saddle which is always a bonus but overall this colt looks a very interesting runner for next season and should prevail here.
The Class 2 Handicap sees a field with a lot of ex group race winners in it that are dropping down to this company and one of them is the Mark Johnston trained Dark Vision.
This three year old has been very frustrating to back during this seasons campaign having won the Group Two Vintage Stakes as a juvenile.
However, last time out was a big step in the right direction from how he has been running this season when a staying on sixth in the Cambridgeshire Stakes at Newmarket and if handling the step up in trip could be useful again.
The Sprint Trophy Handicap over six furlongs sees over 20 runners head to post and with that in mind we have two selections for the contest.
The first horse is the Kevin Ryan trained Hey Jonesy who revels in soft ground and that may be the reason for his poor runs recently on quicker ground.
The gelding is a course and distance winner that has no headgear today and off this current mark looks like a huge player for a trainer that has landed some nice sprint contests this season.
The other runner from a bigger priced angle is the David Barron trained Gunmetal who ran a stormer at Ripon last time out and has superb track form which could see him involved.
John Gosden fields Al Rufaa in the Class 3 Novice Stakes over seven furlongs at York on Saturday and the youngster looks to have a stand out chance.
The son of Kingman has only raced once in his career finishing an average fifth of 12 runners on the all weather but should improve massively for that experience.
He is said to be flying at home and if handling the soft conditions on his turf debut he looks to have the pedigree to be a smart recruit for the yard.
The penultimate selection runs in the Class 3 Handicap over two miles and Arrowtown for Michael Easterby looks an eye-catcher in this race.
The seven year old mare won this contest last season on her final start of the season which saw her land a hat-trick and on Saturday she is only two pounds higher.
She will have to put her two starts this season behind her but back in the conditions she loves and a track that suits her style she holds a big chance again.
Dubai Icon finished the day off for us on the Knavesmire in the Class 3 Handicap over 1 mile 2 furlongs and this Godolphin owned colt looks very unexposed.
The three year old colt has raced three times winning twice and on his only start this season at Chelmsford he dominated landing the Class 4 quite easily.
He has previous of winning on soft ground as on his second start at Nottingham where he relished the cut in the ground and hosed up and we are hoping he does the same in this one.
