Going looks good for Love On The Rocks to cause upset after wait

Zap did really well to win on his racecourse debut, especially as he was very green in the parade ring.

Richard Fahey was very pleased with him and said afterwards that he could be one for Royal Ascot.

I have a quintet of rides during the first Saturday of York’s year, though my mounts in the pair of £50,000 races are both from “outside” Musley Bank.

Dal Harraild is trained by Skipton-born William Haggas in Newmarket and the horse has already won a Listed contest.

He likes to make the running so the wide-open nature of the Knavesmire should suit him in the Listed £50,000 weddingmates.co.uk UK Grand Cup.

It is certainly a race being targeted by some very useful horses, including Yorkshire-trained Clever Cookie, already a two-time winner of this very contest and by Godolphin’s Frontiersman, who won on his latest outing at the Newmarket Guineas Festival.

There is also £50,000 on offer in the Unibet Sprint and I get the leg up on Love On The Rocks, handled by Charlie Hills.

The four-year-old made a winning seasonal debut at Bath so the plan had been to run at the Dante Festival.

However, the rain last week meant a wait for his preferred racing surface after the sunshine of this week. A nice low weight might see us upset the 14 contenders trained in the home county as well as the other four visitors.

Jointly owned by York Race committee member Nicholas Wrigley, Right Touch is in the opener, the Constant Security Stakes.

He has been working well at home so we expect him to run a good race.

The stable’s Clef would also have a decent chance in the Infinity Tyres British EBF Fillies’ Handicap on her seasonal debut, after scoring three times during her first year of racing.

My other ride, Peter Leonard, in the Yorkshire Regiment British EBF Novice Median Auction Stakes, lives right up to the race title as he is racing for the first time so, fingers-crossed, let us hope it all goes well for him.

If you can not wait for tomorrow, this evening I am engaged in five races up at Musselburgh.

Luis Vaz De Torres should take all the beating in the 7.40pm race after winning impressively at Catterick last month, while Scottish trainer Keith Dalgleish’s Falcon’s Fire – who goes for the handicap half-an-hour later – won over a similar distance at the East Lothian track last September is one to watch out for.

After a difficult week in the wider world, it will be good to be back at York tomorrow, the Knavesmire is a wonderful track to ride and the roar of a big crowd is pretty special.

What with Yorkshire set to be blessed with the weather, a glorious occasion looks in prospect.

Find out more about racing at York atwww.yorkracecourse.co.uk. Admission for Saturday, May 27 is on the gate from 11.15am.