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New Approach to foil the Duke
NEW APPROACH can defy a change in ground conditions and end the winning run of Duke of Marmalade in the rescheduled Juddmonte International Stakes at Newmarket.
The huge loss to the racing industry, and to the city of York, of the Ebor Meeting has greatly benefited Goodwood, Newmarket and Newbury (yesterday) as the prestigious Juddmonte ends up at HQ with the two main protaganists back on track for the great event.
With the Ladbrokes Great Voltiguer opening the card at Goodwood and featuring the current St Leger favourite Patkai and the TBA Lowther Stakes supporting the big event at Newmarket, it's a strange looking day's sport but thankfully many of the major events from the lost Knavesmire fixture have been saved in one form or another.
Unfortunately, tonight's meeting at Redcar has been lost to waterlogging but Beverley stage a very competitive two-day card with today's televised meeting featuring the totescoop6 Heritage Handicap and the totesportXtra Beverley Bullet in which the sprinters will find it tough fighting their way up the stiff uphill finish in the soft conditions.
Jim Bolger landed the Yorkshire Oaks at Newmarket yesterday with Lush Lashes and that success will have given the yard great encouragement for today's feature.
New Approach would have relished the softish ground at York more than Duke of Marmalade, but there's no doubt he enjoys the good conditions currently prevailing on the July Course. The fact that he hasn't been seen since landing the Derby at Epsom shouldn't be too much of a concern as Bolger is a master at preparing his horses for a major task and he won't fail through lack of fitness.
Duke of Marmalade will of course be a major obstacle for New Approach to pass as the Ballydoyle colt has looked virtually unbeatable this term. He raced over 1m4f for the first time in the King George and once again showed what a tough horse he is when fighting back to beat the enigmatic Papal Bull (since beaten in Germany) to land his fourth successive Group 1.
Those of us who were privileged to be on the Knavesmire for last season's Juddmonte witnessed an epic contest in which the Derby winner Authorized beat the King George (and subsequent Arc) hero Dylan Thomas.
Once again the winners of the best two races in the Calendar face up to each other and hopefully history can once again be on the side of the classic generation.
One of the unluckiest horses of the season, Raven's Pass, should finally manage to get off the mark in the Group 2 totesport.com Celebration Mile at Goodwood.
John Gosden's colt has seen the rear end of the great Henrythenavigator on three occasions this term, each time by a decreasing margin. He gave supporters of the Ballydoyle colt a real fright in the Sussex Stakes here last time and only went down by a head. He deserves to get his head in front and this event looks tailor-made for him.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
