York Dante Festival day three

Yorkshire Cup headlines Friday

Welcome to the weekend, and Coral punters have a busy Friday of UK and Irish horse racing ahead. York headlines the schedule, but there’s also meetings at Newbury, Newmarket, Aintree, Hamilton, Newcastle, Downpatrick and Cork. Plenty of opportunities to find those winners.

Click now to bet on the headliner, or have your say on any of Friday’s racing, here at Coral. We have everything you need to get off to a winning start.

Focussing on the Dante meeting, we enjoy a bill topped by the ultra-competitive group two Yorkshire Cup, due to post at 3.30pm. We give our best bet on that contest below, or if you flick to the bottom of this page, those punting on the go can keep tabs on our race-by-race selections.

Favourite taken on

We have a talented eight-runner field ready to do battle over one mile five furlongs for the Yorkshire Cup, and bumper winner’s cheque that accompanies it, and Coral have Dartmouth at the head of the betting. Sir Michael Stoute’s rep opened as a 7/2 shot, and that’s expected to be nibbled away at in the run up to the off.

We are resisting the temptation to back the jolly however, and will have our stake money resting on Endless Time. William Buick is trusted to do the piloting for trainer Charlie Appleby, and the selection arrives at track on a run of impressive form.

A disappointing finisher in the Yorkshire Oaks around here last summer, the five-year-old mare was then shipped off to France, where she went close on each of her last two efforts. Runner-up at Chantilly in the Vermeille Stakes off a bulky SP, over 1m 3f, she was then spotted again finding one too good at Saint-Cloud in the Prix Royal-Oak, narrowly beaten, again off an eye-catching price.

Improvement from Endless Time

Those efforts were in better company than she faces here, and that should be noted. It’s also worth remembering, when whittling this field down, that Endless Time scooted up in the group two Lancashire Oaks. That was over a shorter trip, but she was running on at the end to seal the deal, despite a few issues earlier in the contest.

Will go fit and fresh for this one, of that we have no doubt, and if running to the best of her abilities, and showing the kind of improvement we expect after a break, Coral’s 11/2 will look massive at the finish. Has already attracted strong support in the betting ring, let’s hope it’s shrewd money too.

York selections

2.20 – Neola

2.55 – Dancing Breeze

3.30 – Endless Time

4.05 – Gibbs Hill

4.35 – Hells Babe

5.05 – Comprise

5.40 – Alqamar

Keep pace with our horse racing previews here