John Gosden’s Logician puts his unbeaten record on the line at York

The presence of John Gosden’s grey on the Knavesmire adds to the stature of York’s card, day one of the course’s season-ending meeting.

It was at York at the 2019 Ebor Festival where Logician, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah and sired by the legendary Frankel, demonstrated his class by landing the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes under Frankie Dettori.

They then won the St Leger at Doncaster, turning the world’s oldest classic into a one-horse race, before the colt faced a long period on the injury sidelines.

However, Logician made a winning comeback at last month’s St Leger meeting, albeit in a two-runner race, before Gosden decided against a tilt at last weekend’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Instead he identified the Group Two Cumberland Lodge Stakes as a natural progression for his highly-regarded horse before Ascot’s meeting last Saturday fell victim to waterlogging.

In a slightly unexpected move, the British Horseracing Authority decided to rearrange a number of races – including the Cumberland Lodge.

Four horses have been declared for the mile-and-a-half race, with Martin Harley deputising for Dettori who is still in ‘quarantine’ after riding at the Arc meeting where Enable was unplaced as she sought a historic third win in the big race.

The outcome will determine whether Logician has retained his form of last year and is a leading contender for next year’s prestigious Group One middle distance races.

“It’s nice that they’ve put the Cumberland Lodge back on at York as it looks an ideal race for him and he’ll run unless the ground is what I would call Knavesmire heavy,” ventured Gosden. “Logician breezed nicely this morning and we very much hope he can take his chance.”

In other news, Cheltenham intends to drop its Listed Novices’ Handicap Chase from the National Hunt Festival next year to pave the way for the creation of a Grade One Mares’ Chase.

Previous winners of the fiercely competitive two-and-a-half- mile novice race include Divers (2011) for the late West Witton trainer Ferdy Murphy and one-time Grand National-winning jockey Graham Lee.

It has also been won twice by Brian Hughes, the current champion jockey, courtesy of victories by Ballyalton (2016) and Mister Whitaker (2018). Last season’s renewal went to Imperial Aura for Kim Bailey and jockey David Bass who marked his own comeback from injury with a welcome winner at Ludlow yesterday.

Meanwhile, 2007 Grand National-winning jockey Robbie Power was last night reflecting on one of the toughest decisions of his riding career.

He has decided to leave his family behind in his native Ireland to base himself in Britain due to the current Covid restrictions.

Power, who also won the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Sizing John, has made frequent trips across the Irish Sea in recent seasons, enabling him to ride for both Jessica Harrington at home and Colin Tizzard in Britain.

However, with Covid-19 protocols making such an arrangement impossible, Power has moved to Britain for the foreseeable future. Power said: “I came over on Tuesday night on the boat and brought my car over.

“With the restrictions the way they are at the moment, I can’t do what I’ve been doing for the last few years – flying back and forth.”

Power will be able to make fleeting visits to his homeland following last month’s change to coronavirus quarantine rules for sportspeople, which permits overseas jockeys to ride on Group or Grade One racedays in Ireland.

He admits the biggest wrench was leaving behind his wife Hannah and young daughter Emma. Power added: “The hardest part of it is leaving my daughter and wife, but Hannah is very practical and knows that needs must. It’s a difficult time for everybody and she understands the situation.

“Hopefully it won’t be forever. Hopefully this Covid thing will go away and we can get back to some sort of normality.”

Middleham jockey Henry Brooke landed a treble at Sedgefield courtesy of the Rebecca Menzies-trained Return Ticket, Raecius Felix and She’s A Dancer while Tayzar was a pleasing winner for Malton’s Ruth Jefferson.

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James Mitchinson