Bumper crowd at York

No UK racecourse is believed to have attracted so many spectators at a May meeting in recent times, with the bumper attendance eclipsing the crowds who attend York's Dante meeting, Chester's prestigious festival earlier this month and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

York only started staging a May Spring meeting in 2008 after reaching a deal with Musselburgh – and attendances continue to rise.

"We had 22,000 in the first year, 24,000 last year and nearly 30,000 on Saturday," said James Brennan, the racecourse's head of marketing and sponsorship.

"The encouraging sign is that there is already a lot of interest in our next Saturday meeting on June 12 which is our charity day – people obviously love their Saturday racing at York.

"We believe it was the biggest modern-day attendance recorded in May in the UK which is a great achievement. Racegoers also know that all the money we take on the gate is invested in either prize money or new facilities.

"After the romance of the Dante meeting, and the success enjoyed by the ever popular former champion trainer Henry Cecil, Yorkshire's natural order was restored – we had three local winners and Malton's Richard Fahey is, once again, the leading trainer here.

"John Dunlop's Tactic also got his tactics spot on in the feature, the Stowe Family Law LLP Grand Cup – the 10-1 chance turned the contest into an absolute procession."

Tactic was second on his seasonal return at Ripon and proved a class apart in Saturday's Listed contest.

Aajel took the field along, closely tracked by Macarthur, but Jimmy Quinn could be spotted going ever so well on Tactic. He burst clear with a quarter of a mile to run and was never in any danger of being caught as he beat Munsef by 14 lengths, breaking the track record in the process. Macarthur plugged on for third.

Hamish McGonagall gained a deserved success in the valuable sportingbet.com Sprint Handicap.

Tim Easterby's five-year-old was fourth in the race 12 months ago and had been banging on the door so far this season having run well at Beverley and Chester.

David Allan went for home early on the 7-2 shot and although Ziggy Lee came with a late rattle, he had too much ground to make up and was a length and a quarter away. Ziggy Lee fell after crossing the line but both he and jockey William Carson escaped unharmed. Masta Plasta, winner two years ago, and Feelin Foxy filled the places.

The only person who probably did not enjoy the York experience was former champion jockey Frankie Dettori – his five rides failed to yield a single winner, with the highly-fancied Age of Reason among those who were left trailing by Tactic. He will try to make amends later in the summer, and will be one of the leading contenders at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival in August.

Robin Bastiman's dual Nunthorpe winner Borderlescott is set to take his chance at Royal Ascot after finishing third at Haydock on Saturday.

The popular eight-year-old was pipped by Kingsgate Native and Equiano in the Temple Stakes and could renew rivalries with those high-class sprinters in the King's Stand Stakes.

Bastiman said: "He will need a few more races before the Nunthorpe and he never comes to hand early, so there is hopefully improvement to come."